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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29249244">Come Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watch_as_the_rain_fell/pseuds/Watch_as_the_rain_fell'>Watch_as_the_rain_fell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Come Home Peter [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, All of the characters are probably out of character, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Wanda Maximoff, Big Sister Wanda, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Civil War happened but it ended way better than the movie, F/M, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, I don't know what I'm doing, I mean all of them need a hug really, I'm so bad at this, I've probably missed something, James "Bucky" Barnes acting as Peter Parkers Parental figure, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Letters, May Parker isn't great in this (sorry), Maybe - Freeform, Natasha Romanov Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, None of these characters are mine, Parent Bucky, Parent Natasha, Peter Parker Deserves Better, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter doesn't realise people care about him, Peter not accepting help, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Protective Wanda Maximoff, So has some canon but not really, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, Yes I keep adding tags, i don't know how to tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:22:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29249244</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watch_as_the_rain_fell/pseuds/Watch_as_the_rain_fell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter just left one day. </p>
<p>None of the Avengers knew why but they weren't going to let him suffer out there, especially Natasha. Then Peter started leaving them letters and their concern only grew. </p>
<p>Peter knew he should go home but he didn't feel like he could, didn't think it would be safe. His choice to go back was taken when they came for him.</p>
<p>Were the Avengers going to get to him in time?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Banner &amp; Peter Parker, Everyone &amp; Everyone, James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Peter Parker &amp; Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Michelle Jones &amp; Peter Parker, Ned Leeds &amp; Peter Parker, Peter Parker &amp; Avengers Team, Peter Parker &amp; Everyone, Peter Parker &amp; Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark, Peter Parker &amp; Wanda Maximoff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Come Home Peter [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>339</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I've never written something like this before. I like to write but only really short poems or ideas so I thought hey why not try writing a story and see what happens. If you have any advice on how to make things better than please let me know, I mean I've already written quite a few chapters so I can't really change any big things but I will do my best. I hope it doesn't suck!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Peter just left one day. </p><p>None of the Avengers knew why but they weren't going to let him suffer out there, especially Natasha. Then Peter started leaving them letters and their concern only grew. </p><p>Peter knew he should go home but he didn't feel like he could, didn't think it would be safe. His choice to go back was taken when they came for him. </p><p>Were the Avengers going to get to him in time?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I've never written something like this before. I like to write but only really short poems or ideas so I thought hey why not try writing a story and see what happens. If you have any advice on how to make things better than please let me know, I mean I've already written quite a few chapters so I can't really change any big things but I will do my best. I hope it doesn't suck!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’d been gone for a few hours now and he’d left everything behind meaning they had zero way of tracking him down until he was sighted somewhere. Hours of fear she never expected to feel, as Tony paced, she sat there blank faced trying to think. Think of where he would be, who he could be with (other than Ned, MJ, and May of course they were the first people they all thought to contact) but most importantly why had he fled so suddenly, what was it that made him run?</p>
<p>“Maybe you should go to bed Nat?” She was pulled out of her thoughts by Bruce’s voice and his hand on her shoulder. As she looks around, she notices that Tony is no longer in the room with her, “Pepper finally convinced him to at least try and sleep” Ah. There’s one person Tony listens to, other than Peter, and that is Pepper Potts.</p>
<p>Natasha finally stands as her and Bruce begin to walk to the elevator, the silence in the tower is so loud to those there, as Peter isn’t there to tell his stories, to try and convince her or Tony to finally get some sleep, or just to ramble into the empty space and it’s as if the world acknowledges it within the empty hallway. The sounds of their feet hitting the floor echoing so loudly that every instinct within her is screaming but she knows for Peter, in hopes of finding a way to locate him and bring him home she must hold herself together, because Tony certainly will not.</p>
<p>“Are you going to be able to rest?” Bruce asked her as they reached the elevator, “I’m going down to Tony’s lab to have a look for well anything that might be helpful, it’s how me and Pepper finally convinced him to go rest. I’d say you could come with, but I really think you should at least try to sleep.” Looking at him and the concern etched onto his face was enough to make her feel guilty enough to at least try, the focus shouldn’t be on her it should be on Peter, “I’ll try okay? But the second you find something, and I mean the second, I don’t care if I’ve only just fallen asleep you tell Friday to wake me up, got it?” At Bruce’s nod they separated, him down to the lab and her to lay there doing nothing.</p>
<p>After the elevator had reached her floor, she instantly began to search every room from floor to ceiling, knowing Peter sometimes climbed without even realising, as she looked around, she again realised the fact that he had taken nothing with him, his science homework remaining on the table in the dining room that he was working on the day before. She hadn’t realised just how much she cared for the little spider, but now feeling the absence of his presence and the almost physical pain she felt was clearly obvious. She knew he cared for her, looked up to her even, the fact his homework laid on her desk simply because he didn’t want her to be alone in her room, or the way he had declared that Friday’s were now their movie nights. Friday. Today. She looked at the TV and felt the emptiness and the silence of her floor, wishing for anything for Peter to be here sat on the sofa with his commentary on a film he declared she just had to watch, and she broke down as she sank onto the couch.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After a while, her tears dried out and her chest felt hollow, but that pain remained, maybe Bruce was right and all she had to do was rest. Maybe he was going to be here in the morning, and this was all going to be a big misunderstanding, or even better just a horrible dream.</p>
<p>At that she stood up and walked to her room, normally she always left the light off believing there was no point in turning a light on to prepare for bed to then turn it off again, she’d gotten sorted in worst conditions before the dark was nothing. But tonight, something told her to flick the light on, for a split second she hoped that that feeling was her knowing Peter was simply sleeping in her bed, but as the room was illuminated there was no Peter but there was an envelope, one that hadn’t been there when Peter left that morning, but she would know that handwriting anywhere. Had he instructed someone to place it on her bed or had he snuck in while they were all in the Common Room?</p>
<p>“Friday, when was this placed here?”</p>
<p>“An hour ago Miss Romanoff, Peter crawled through the window and placed it on your pillow.” At that Natasha’s head shot up.</p>
<p>“An hour ago! He’s been missing for four why didn’t you say anything?! He could be in danger; he could be hurt!” She screamed.</p>
<p>“I was going to. As soon as he entered, I was preparing to and then I saw his state, he is in no physical pain I assure you and he wasn’t in any danger, but he was clearly upset. He begged me to keep quiet, that if any of you were looking for him to stay quiet because he needed to leave. I don’t believe he truly wanted to, but he said he wanted to do what’s best and what was best was leaving. I tried my best to convince him otherwise, but he eventually gave up trying to convince me and he overruled my code. He wanted to leave, and he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him. But he told me to tell you all he’s sorry.”</p>
<p>Natasha’s anger diminished as her heart broke even further as she felt as if those four words were being branded into her skin. He wanted to leave. She glanced down at the envelope in her hands and felt as her façade once again began to break as she began to cry and her hands began to shake, would opening this hurt more than not knowing? Did he write a letter to anyone else or just to her? After what felt like hours, she was finally able to wipe her tears and she opened the letter and began to read.</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m so sorry Natasha. I really am. I’m sorry to all of you really but I had to go, I had to leave. I know you’re probably so confused right now, and I wish I could explain but I don’t think it’d help and also it would probably make you work even harder to find me to tell me it’s not true even though I know that it’s all true. I’m not making sense I know. I just want you to know, no I need you to know that all of this. It’s on me okay? None of this is on you it’s all my fault, so please don’t hate yourself for me going.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I can’t tell you where I’m going because well you know you’d come after me, but also if I’m honest I’m not quite sure where I’m headed but I’ll figure it out. I don’t know if I’ll ever come back so just forget about me okay. Go back to before you ever knew I existed because you’ll be better that way, trust me.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Also, Nat, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you are the closest I’ve ever had to a mother since Mary died, thank you for that. May was always and will always be my Aunt, her and Uncle Ben never wanted kids but the still took me in, will you look after May for me please? After everything she’s done, she deserves the best. The thing is if I see you as a mother figure then that means I’m kind of your son, right? And you deserve a better kid than me Tasha, so does May.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Will you tell Bucky that he’s a lot cooler than he thinks he is? Wait is cooler the right word? You know because of the ice and stuff? Never mind will you just tell him that he’s a good guy, because I know he thinks that he’s a monster, but he really isn’t. Oh, on that note could you tell Bruce the same thing? I know he and the Hulk don’t really get along but they’re both really nice to me and I know the green guy would never hurt me, I think Bruce avoided me sometimes because he feared I’d get hurt. Both deserve a life outside of their fear you know.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Will you tell all of them that I’m sorry. Tony and Wanda especially. I know how hard it is for them to let people in, you as well, and I know me just taking off isn’t going to help that at all, but I had to. I don’t know if she wants to hear this, but Wanda became this big sister I never dreamed I could have, but I know I’m not the brother she wants, she told me about Pietro, and I know she misses him so I don’t think me thinking of her as my sister would help her. Please take care of her. You know after my parents and Ben I thought I’m never going to get a family like that again, don’t get me wrong I love May, but she had to be away so often for her job to pay for me that it got really lonely sometimes now that I’m gone, she can start to live again. Please don’t tell her that it’ll break her heart. Then I found you guys and I found another home, another family and I felt like I belong. I don’t deserve that though; I deserve to be alone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I know I’m asking for a lot here, especially since I’ve left but can you promise me one last thing? Promise me you’ll take care of yourself; I know you don’t want people to think you’re weak or that you need help but how on earth could you ever be weak? You’re the strongest person I know, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let people help you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I’ll be okay, you don’t have to worry about me. I was debating whether or not to give this to you, even if I want to I have no idea how I can without you or someone else realising which if you’re reading this I suppose I pulled it off. I guess the spy lessons you’ve given me have paid off. Again, I just need you to know this isn’t your fault okay? You don’t have to deal with me anymore.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I really am sorry, take care of yourself.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>All my love, Peter Parker.</em>
</p>
<p>At reading this she once again broke down crying, crying to the point that at some point in the night she fell asleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? Thank you for taking your time to read!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here you go, I honestly do not have any idea what I'm doing so this may suck.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waking up to the sun blaring in her room, for a moment, made everything feel as if it was okay, but it didn’t take long for the memories of yesterday to hit her. Peter left. </p>
<p>Looking to her left she saw the letter he had left her on the table. A letter that made certain aspects clearer all while raising even more questions, why did he want to leave? But there was one part of the letter which broke her heart the most, “The thing is if I see you as a mother figure then that means I’m kind of your son, right? And you deserve a better kid than me Tasha,” how could he ever think that? Anyone in this world would be lucky to be able to call Peter Parker their child. And if he looked at her as a mother then she would do her best to be worthy of that title, she will find him and prove that to him. How did she miss that? How could he ever think she wouldn’t care about him as much as he cares for her? </p>
<p>But she had to get up, her and the team had to continue looking. They should probably actually go out looking for him physically, the longer they took to do that the further he would get, and he needs to come home. She needs him to come home. Before she walked out to the elevator to got to the common room, she grabs his letter, if she is going to ask the team if they also got a letter then they’re going to want to see the one she has. <br/>However, once she was in the elevator she was struck with the realisation of, what if he didn’t write to anyone else? She knew she needed to bring the letter with her, but she was afraid of what their reactions would be if he hadn’t. </p>
<p>Tony was the first person she saw, he looked exhausted which was to be expected but still they smiled to each other and they walked to where the group were all sitting. They both knew that no matter what the team chose to do, they wouldn’t stop looking for Peter until he himself told them to stop, in person not through a letter. The team was clearly waiting for them, if the silence were anything to go by, a silence that felt so haunting and yet so peaceful, if there was one person that could get this group of misfits to get along then it was Peter, and now that he was missing it was clear they were going to work together to get him back. She had known he had made an impact on them all but seeing everyone sat together in a room willingly working together to find this boy she honestly wondered if his spider powers were really the only ones that he had. As Bruce said Peter was even able to worm his way into the green guys heart, something that everyone thought was practically impossible. </p>
<p>It was now or never, “Did any of you get a letter from him?” At those words suddenly all the focus is shifted to her and she lifts the envelope up so they can see.<br/>“A letter?” Tony asks her as he snatches it from her, normally she’d put up a fight, or he’d be on the floor before he could even reach for it but not now, not when she was so tired and not when it was as important as this. As she looked around at the confusion on her teammates faces, her fear was confirmed he’d only written to her. She explained to them how Friday had let him into her room. After saying that she remembers what Peter had written about her and swirls around to look at Tony, only for him already to be looking at her. </p>
<p>“I already knew that part.” What, how? “Friday how could you not notify us of the fact he was here?! You knew we were looking, and you just let him go!” </p>
<p>“I’m sorry Sir, I was just listening to Mr Parker’s requests.” No one in the room had ever heard the AI show so much sorrow before, once again reminding them of what they had lost. </p>
<p>“Tony, I know you aren’t happy with what Friday did but it’s too late to change it now, we need to focus on finding him.” Steve reminded him. </p>
<p>“Has he been spotted anywhere?” Tony directed at his ceiling, and Natasha wishes, not for the first time in her life, that she wouldn’t allow hope into her heart, but in that moment, she prayed that they had found him with everything she had.</p>
<p>“No, sorry Sir.”</p>
<p>Suddenly Wanda stood, “So we go out and look.” bless that woman for being on the same side as her Natasha thought. “He knows to avoid any kind of cameras, we taught him that, so we have more chance of finding him if we break off, either on our own or into pairs and start looking for him!” </p>
<p>“She’s right,” Natasha told them. “The longer we wait the further he will get from us, not just physically but emotionally. He thinks he’s doing what is best, if we don’t look for him, if we don’t find him then we’re basically just telling him that he’s correct. If that happens then he will never come back. But at least two of you need to stay here just in case he shows up.”</p>
<p>“As much as I want to be out there finding him, I think it would be best for me to stay here, it’s not safe for me to be out there looking. Especially since I can tell the big guy wants out, it’s not safe” Bruce told them all, at his apologetic look Natasha smiled at him. She understood his fear and as much as she wanted to comfort him as she knew how guilty and worthless that made him feel she needed to focus on Peter.</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t having the green guy come out attract Peter to us? He knows how much you don’t want him out in public it would draw him to us.” Tony questioned.<br/>“It would, but for all the wrong reasons, he would come out of hiding because he would feel the need to help a situation that we can prevent. He won’t be coming back because he wants to but because he has to and that will not end well.” Clint spoke up.</p>
<p>“So we split up. Alright Tony and Sam you two team up you can be the ones in the air. Steve and Bucky, you two work together, you might be able to find areas we wouldn’t think of or can’t access because we don’t have any kind of super solider serum in us. I know all three of you have a different kind but some of it is basically the same you two just aren’t sticky. Wanda you’re with me, we’ll take the ground. Thor and Clint, you two can do, well whatever you want, I guess you’ll be able to access both sky and ground. Everyone take your comms we need a way to communicate easily, don’t turn them on until you’ve found something, we need to focus on this, you’ll only have a line open with your partner at all times, got it? Bruce and Pepper, you two stay here, I know you want to help Potts, but we need someone here in case Bruce is unable to be of assistance.” Natasha commanded; she might not be the leader of this team but right now she wasn’t willing to wait for orders. </p>
<p>The group began to split into the groups she’d told them of as soon as she finished speaking, they weren’t wasting time. Good. </p>
<p>After everyone, but her and Tony, had left to collect everything that they would need or had already left, she turned to the man, “What do you mean by you already knew? You already knew what Stark?” She commanded.</p>
<p>“I already knew about the whole mother figure thing. He told me about two months ago, was all rambles and anxious stuttering, it took him about five minutes to actually get the question out there.”</p>
<p>“What question?” </p>
<p>“He asked me if you cared about him, and obviously I told him of course you do, you don’t let anyone be near you the way you allow him to be. It’s as if he’s your little duckling, you listen to his rambling, you let him follow you around, you teach him, you comfort him. Basically, you became his parent without either of you realising. When I told him this and asked why he was asking he got even more anxious and he just spilled that he couldn’t really remember Mary, but he remembered her warmth and that feeling of having a mother and that he had realised he had started to think of you that way. So, I asked him what he wanted to do about it and then he went on a rant of if you would even want him as a son, I don’t think I was able to convince him that you would but then again only you can do that. But I did convince him to talk to you, I don’t know why he hasn’t, and I have no idea why he ran away but I do know one thing, we’ll get your kid back Romanoff.” At that he left her to get ready.</p>
<p>Wanda appeared around the corner, a look of determination etched on her face, Natasha realises that if they don’t find him it won’t just be her and Tony that wouldn’t stop, Wanda would do everything to find him too. Yet she just stares at Natasha, waiting. </p>
<p>“Let’s go.” Natasha says before walking away, she’s not waiting for the boys to get ready.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? Honestly I'll listen to everything I just want to get better at writing. Thank you for taking the time to read!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay this one has more Wanda, I mean it is literally just Natasha and Wanda so I guess that's why</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After about twenty minutes of driving around in complete silence Natasha decides it’s time to crack, “You aren’t being very chatty right now.” Glancing at her quickly before looking back at the road. She may be reckless but if they want to gain some ground in this then they’re going to need a car that isn’t wrecked.</p>
<p>“Peter is missing Natasha, sorry if that doesn’t put me in the chattiest mood.” At that she feels rather than sees the glare Wanda is sending her way.</p>
<p>“No. It’s more than that. If it’s that you didn’t want to be in the car with me, you could have taken your own. Tell me the truth.”</p>
<p>“He wrote you a letter.”</p>
<p>“Yes, he did.”</p>
<p>“What about me? Why did he only write a letter to you? Out of me and you, you were the one that would have been most likely to catch him putting that letter on your pillow. Do you think he wanted to get caught? If you were the only one that he trusted to write to then why couldn’t he have just spoken to you!?” Wanda cries. “Why couldn’t he speak to me Nat? If he was in pain how could I not feel it? After I lost Pietro, I told myself never again, never will you love someone that much because it just ends in so much pain. But Peter walked in and I had no choice, he spoke to me about his days at school and his crush on MJ, the way he grew up an only child, he told me everything Nat and I did the same. Why was this so different? You know one day I turned around and I just realised this is my baby brother he’s so sweet, so innocent despite all of the horrors and he’s so vulnerable and he allowed me to see that, allowed me to protect him. It was my job to protect him! I let him down!”</p>
<p>“Wanda none of this is on you. I failed him too, without realising. He didn’t say anything to anyone because he didn’t want us to know and it hurts, I know but you need to feel that pain and use it to focus on finding him.” Natasha tried to calm her down, but she knew that was practically impossible when she couldn’t calm any of her fears because she just didn’t know.</p>
<p>“Did – did he mention me in the letter.” After a slight pause all Natasha could do was nod, “Can I read it?”</p>
<p>“Wanda– “</p>
<p>“<em>Please</em>”</p>
<p>“Fine, I’m warning you though it won’t comfort you, not in the slightest. He’s in pain Wanda, it’s very clear in it.” After that Natasha pulled the letter from her pocket and after passing it to Wanda, she put her full focus back onto the road. She couldn’t worry about Wanda’s reaction, not right now she couldn’t focus on it. She hates the fact that Peter didn’t want Wanda to know that he feels she’s his sister, hates that she is betraying his trust when he already doesn’t feel as if he belongs but right now, she doesn’t know how else to get Wanda’s focus from her questions to searching other than the contents of that letter.</p>
<p>After around fifteen minutes of silence Natasha began to panic, not that she’d let it show. She knows she doesn’t deserve Peter as a son, she’s done many horrendous things to allow such innocence and love into her life but she isn’t willing to let him go. But he also clearly loves Wanda too, listens to her, tells her everything. Would he listen to her if she told him to walk away?</p>
<p>“How could he think we don’t love him Nat? You know he never told me he thought of you as a mother, at least not that explicitly, don’t know how I missed it though.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“There was one conversation we had, I was messing with him, joking with him and I asked him who his favourite Avenger was. It was almost like a light switch how quicky he turned serious in that moment; I remember being so confused about it that I didn’t think to connect it. He said you, Natasha Romanoff the Black Widow. I remember being surprised, no offense to you but you remember how he reacted when he met Bruce and Thor, I honestly thought he would never speak again. I asked him if he was sure, he answered so quick, I’ve never seen him look so serious as he just answered ‘of course, for always’, then he said something about spiders needing to stick together. He said that’s something you taught him. Now that I think about there were so many times, he said that, that it’s what you taught him, I think me mentioned you in our chats more than the rest of the team together. I thought it was just admiration, well I guess it still kind of is. How does it feel to be a mum?” Wanda quips at her.</p>
<p>“You know I never thought that I’d be a mother. I never thought that I would have the chance, but here comes this sweet little boy and I just let him leave. I let him walk out of the door and I didn’t even realise anything was wrong. I think that’s what I’m struggling with the most right now, obviously other than the fact that we don’t know where he is, is that how many of us live in that tower? How did none of us realise that something was wrong? You know I must have read that letter what feels like for hours last night, just trying to figure something out, something to let me know where he is. He’s clearly in pain but all he wanted from us was for us to be okay, he didn’t want anything for himself. I knew he was selfless but not to this level. What do you think of it though, how do you feel about the fact you’re his big sister?” Natasha said, trying to turn it around on her.</p>
<p>Wanda turned to her at that, a look on her face that she doesn’t think she’s ever seen. Pain, confusion and determination all rolled into one, a slight pause before Wanda looked back at the road, the same look etched on her face.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand. I don’t understand how he could feel like that. He’s told me a lot about his pain, and he’s allowed me to feel some of it, but I don’t understand how I missed all of this pain. The pain he felt over wanting a family, how could he ever think we wouldn’t want him, I know he’s lost so much but I never thought something like this would happen. But you know what? All of this just means we have to find him even more, he needs us and whether he truly realises it he wants a family, he wants to be our brother, our son, our nephew but I think he’s too scared, feels too guilty to accept it. I know you might think it’s a bad idea, but I think Bucky and Bruce need to read it.” She says while looking at the letter in her hands. “I mean he spoke about the two of them, May too. You know I’m surprised May hasn’t been in touch with us, you’d think she’d be the first person out looking?” Wanda utters that last bit in confusion.</p>
<p>At that the two women sit in silence trying to figure out that exact thing. May has been Peter’s guardian since his parent’s death, why wouldn’t she ask for any updates, why isn’t she out with them looking for her nephew. Something in that felt completely wrong but right now they needed to put that to the side, they can figure it out when they have time to.</p>
<p>“We’re going to find him right Nat?” Wanda pleads.</p>
<p>Despite the fear Natasha feels, even though she had no idea what to say, or how she was going to fix this she was sure about one thing, “I’m not going to stop until I do.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After getting out of the car Natasha and Wanda decided on the best course of action before deciding they should split up and get in touch in an hour or two.</p>
<p>While walking around New York Natasha was remembering everything that she’d taught Peter about how to escape, wondering if somewhere in this crowd he’s hiding from her. Despite being one of the best in her field of work, she knows that emotions can get the best of you and if there’s one person who can make her work and her emotions combine is Peter.</p>
<p>After around half an hour of searching something catches her eye, there on the wall is a painting of a spider, the one that dawns Spiderman’s suit. It’s small enough to be not be noticeable but big enough to be found if you were searching for something that it sticks out, it makes Natasha remember a conversation she had with Peter one night on the roof of the tower.</p>
<p>
  <em>“You need to develop a calling card. Something that is unmistakeably you that you can use when you can’t reach out, I can know you’re there.” Natasha told Peter.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She watches him go from admiring the stars to looking at her curiously with those innocent Bambi eyes, something she prays he never loses. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“What do you mean?” He chuckles curling into her body as the air gets colder.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“You need a symbol. Say you were in danger okay; you can’t send an actual message for whatever reason then you would be able to send that or leave it somewhere and we would be able to either pinpoint where you are or at least narrow it down. It’s basically a last resort but you should have one. Mine’s my hourglass symbol.” She tells him wrapping her arms around him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Huh. Oh! I can do the spider symbol, the one on my Spiderman suit?” He asks, clearly wanting approval on his idea.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I like it.” The smile on his face bright enough to make her tighten her arms around him and chuckle at his excitement. Boy did she love this kid.</em>
</p>
<p>As she reaches out to it, she notices there’s another one a few meters away from it on the opposite side of the alley, except this one’s a little different. The spider from before is known painted within her hourglass symbol, turning around there’s clearly another one a few meters down. Making sure her weapon is within reach but hidden enough that no one else would be able to notice it she follows the paintings.</p>
<p>When Natasha gets to the end of the alley she is, for a lack of better word, confused, that is until she looks to her side and there in the corner, hidden under the cover of the wall to ensure it doesn’t get wet, is another letter taped to the wall, her name written on the envelope in the same handwriting as the one left on her pillow.</p>
<p>Removing it from the wall she presses her earpiece, “Wanda I found something, I’m sending you my coordinates. He’s left another letter.”</p>
<p>“On my way.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading! Any advice on how to make it better? Any ideas for something I could write when this main story is complete? Anything and everything is welcome!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This feels kind of like a filler chapter? I don't know I don't love it but I wasn't sure how else to write it and it feels so much shorter than the others even though the rest aren't that big.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While waiting for Wanda Natasha opens the letter and begins to read what this one says, hoping that there’s something in this one that can give her hope of seeing Peter sometime soon.</p><p>
  <em>So, I’m assuming the person reading this (or who found it) is Natasha. I mean Nat you’re the one who taught me the whole symbol thing, if you’re reading this then I guess it worked but at the same time you don’t need to waste your time looking for me. I know I’m acting different to what I’m saying seeing as I wrote this hoping that you would find it but I kept having this image of you searching and searching but coming up empty and I know how much you hate not being able to find anything. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You won’t find me Nat, at least not yet but I don’t want you to, so please Tasha just go home. I need to do this on my own okay. I need to. As much as I know you want to you can’t make this any better, I can’t tell you everything (mostly because you won’t react to it well) but May doesn’t want me anymore. She’s not the main reason I left but she’s the reason I’m not with her, she told me to leave and never go back, so I haven’t been in that apartment for a while now. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I lied to you and Mr Stark when I said she was on the night shifts when I asked to stay at the tower, I’m sorry I just didn’t know what to do. I knew I could talk to you so please don’t think it’s on you, but I didn’t want to tell you, I think I had convinced myself she was just at work. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Last night I realised that I don’t want to be gone forever, I don’t think I knew how much I felt like the tower was my home until I wasn’t there and all I wanted to do was turn back around and come home but I can’t, not yet. I don’t want to disappear forever, so I put a number on the back of this letter, I have a phone with me and before you wonder it’s not traceable. But I’ll have it with me at all times, if you need me then you have a way to contact me, but you don’t have to. If you want to then you could message it to just tell me you got the letter, although now I’m not sure how I’ll know it’s you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anyway, I think I’ll try and figure out a way to get another letter to you at some point, I know that’s probably dumb seeing as I wanted to leave, and I told you to forget about me so I should stop but I don’t know how to really. I thought I wanted to go but I’m not sure anymore, or at least I don’t want to be gone completely if that makes sense. You know if you want me to stop just message that number with just “Stop” and then I’ll know, I’ll keep the phone with me just in case you need me for an emergency though. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry Tasha, I know this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done but I feel I have to go. I still have no idea where I’m going. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh and don’t worry about school, I graduated the other week, I made sure that none of you knew. I obviously didn’t tell any of you and I also told Ned and MJ that they can’t say anything, I’m going to miss them while I’m gone. I’m going to miss all of you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>See you one day! </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Love from PP </em>
</p><p>After reading the full letter Natasha flips it over and just like he said there was a number on the back of it, she pulled her phone out ready to message him before she realised that she wasn’t sure how to ensure he would know it was her. Until she was hit by a memory from the year before.</p><p>
  <em>Once again Natasha and Peter were up at an ungodly hour, neither of them able to sleep once again and so they sat in silence watching whatever was playing on TV. Neither of them was really watching it but more using it as background noise. Until “Miss Nat?” Natasha had been zoned out for a while before his voice pulled her back and she turned to see him looking at her to which she nodded to indicate for him to continue, “Would you be okay with teaching me Russian?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That, honestly, was not what she had been expecting, “You want me to teach you Russian? Why?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter looked away from her before uttering “I tried to teach myself but it’s erm it’s not going well, I thought it would be fun to learn a new language or well more MJ said I should try learning a new language, said she wanted to see if I’m a genius outside of the more academic subjects. We went through all the different languages that the Avengers can speak, and I decided I want to speak Russian like you! Only if that’s okay of course, but I have no idea where to look to start learning and so I was wondering if you would help?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>At his ramble she can’t help but chuckle, “Of course I’ll teach you Russian Peter, don’t tell Tony though or he’ll get jealous I’m teaching you something he can’t.” Her answer gifts her with such a dazzling smile on his face that she feels as if the sun has rested in her chest despite the fact that they’re awake at three in the morning covered in a blanket of darkness only disturbed by the light from the TV.</em>
</p><p>Instantly she knew what she could send him.</p><p>
  <strong>You will always have a home with me! - Мама Паук</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>After around five minutes later Wanda comes walking around the corner, clearly trying not to look out of place but still rushing to meet her, “What did you find?” Is the first thing to come out of her mouth.</p><p>Instead of answering Natasha just hands her the letter Peter left and she watches her while she reads wanting to see her reaction. When Wanda gets to the part about May she doesn’t look up as she says, “Well I guess that answers our question about why May isn’t helping look.” And Natasha is very aware of when she gets to the part about the phone number because her head shoots up and unlike Natasha, she flips the paper over before reading the rest but before she can even open her mouth Natasha beats her to it. “I’ve already messaged him, told him he that he can come home. He hasn’t answered and I don’t think he will.” And Wanda goes back to reading.</p><p>After she finished reading Wanda lent her body against the wall dawning the spider symbol, “He graduated?” She asks looking at Natasha, who only stares back. “He graduated and didn’t tell us, we didn’t notice. I – how? Why? So, he’s been planning on leaving for a while then huh? I don’t get why Ned and MJ didn’t tell us, yeah, I know he told them not to saying anything about him being done with school but how come they didn’t get concerned when they found out he’s just gone. If you knew your friend just wasn’t showing up, you would be concerned and- “</p><p>“Unless they already knew.” Natasha cut in.</p><p>“You think they knew he was going to run?” Wanda asks.</p><p>“I’m not saying for certain, but it makes sense as to why they didn’t panic when we said he was missing if they already knew he was gone. What I don’t understand is why he didn’t tell us about May, he must have known we would have taken care of him?”</p><p>“I have no idea Nat. Do we do what he says and just stop looking? Do we just wait for him to randomly drop off another letter? He said it himself you won’t find him. We all know you don’t like people telling you aren’t able to do something, especially Peter but he wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. You’re also the person who knows him best out of us so if you don’t know there’s little chance we would.”</p><p>Staring at Wanda, Natasha found herself going through the letter once again. He told her to go home, begged her practically.</p><p>“He said he doesn’t want to be gone forever, so as much as I hate it, I think we need to listen. He’s asked us, or well me, to basically leave him to it what if we don’t listen and he chooses to never come back? So, we tell them to go back to the tower.” Natasha sighs before pressing her earpiece, “Boys turn around and meet back at the tower. He left another letter.”</p><p>“Got it Romanoff.” Tony’s voice crackled through.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? Thank you for taking the time to read!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm not going to lie I don't know what this chapter is but here you go!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So what? We just let him travel around all on his own doing god knows what!? What kind of plan is that Romanoff?” Tony demands while he paces the common floor.</p>
<p>“It’s what he wants Stark!” Natasha snaps back at him. She understands his frustration, but she also knows Peter, he won’t stop until he does whatever it is that he needs to do.</p>
<p>Despite her reminding Tony of this he continued to pace back and forth, scrolling through anything Friday could find but somehow the kid had practically gone invisible.</p>
<p>“Why did you have to teach him to disappear! Both you and Barnes over there, why on earth would you teach him how to avoid being tracked?”</p>
<p>Before even attempting to respond Natasha felt James’ hand grip her shoulder, a command he taught her long ago and she knew to let him speak.</p>
<p>“We didn’t teach him to disappear thinking he would hide from us, we taught him to be safe. I think you’re forgetting it was in fact you who told us to train him to learn what we knew, that also means teaching him to avoid being seen and you knew that. I get you’re freaking out but do not blame us.” Bucky reminded him softly, he might hate being accused of letting the kid run but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get where Stark is coming for. Getting angry will only make this worse.</p>
<p>“So, he wants us to leave him alone. He said he’ll be in touch at some point, we need to trust him on that,” Steve spoke up, “But has anyone got any information, other than the two letters Natasha got, that could give us some idea of where he is or what’s going on just in case this turns into something worse?”</p>
<p>The group all looked at each other, and saw Clint and Thor looking at one another, clearly avoiding looking at anyone but each other.</p>
<p>“Boys what do you know?” Pepper demanded from them, while she stood in Tony’s arms trying to offer him some kind of comfort.</p>
<p>“Go ahead Storm Break, you found out you can share.” Clint passed the focus to Thor. Clearly too uncomfortable to offer the information they found himself.</p>
<p>“Well as Natasha shared from the letter, we found out that May had abandoned him. But from his friends we learned some more information, but there’s also information that clearly, they don’t know of, so it seems Peter didn’t want anyone to know where he was going.” Thor shared while looking at Natasha, almost looking as if he was asking for her permission to continue, to which she kept her face stoic but nodded her head.</p>
<p>“MJ told us that her and Ned had noticed that something was occurring between Peter and May for a few weeks now at least, but he didn’t tell them any information as to what was happening to break what they all thought was an unbreakable bond. He just told them it was getting tense at home with May, and Ned told us that he hadn’t been in their apartment for a few months now, that whenever they met up it was never at their home.”</p>
<p>Sitting there, Natasha begins to realise for a while now that Peter had been staying at the tower a lot more for a few months now at least but she couldn’t figure out when it actually started. When did the tower become his main home? Was it before things began to fall apart with May or after?</p>
<p>“She then told us how the day before he left his explained to them he had to do something, but that he couldn’t share with them what exactly he had to do but that if we were to contact them to tell them he showed up for school. She said she’d give him 24 hours at the most to show up or explain and because he didn’t, she would willingly tell us everything they know. Ned just nodded along. Wasn’t there something to do with a phone Clint?”</p>
<p>At that Natasha’s eyes shot over to Bucky, about one second earlier before his eyes shot to her. Phone?</p>
<p>“Yeah, Ned told us that the entire day before he kept getting notifications on his phone, and that each one would make him more agitated or twitchy but when they asked him, he just shrugged them off. But whatever was on his phone clearly had his attention.”</p>
<p>“Do they know what was on his phone?” Steve questioned watching as Natasha stood up abruptly and stormed towards the elevator.</p>
<p>“Not what Stevie, but who?” Bucky corrected him before following Natasha.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His phone! Natasha screamed at herself. Peter left everything behind to ensure that he wouldn’t be tracked.</p>
<p>“Ring it.” She yelled back at Bucky, knowing without looking that he was following her.</p>
<p>If there was anyone on this team who cared for Peter the same way she did, other than Wanda, then it’s James. A friendship that she knew surprised most on the team, everyone, but her and Steve, didn’t expect Bucky to be one of the ones to be so protective of Peter.</p>
<p>What did they expect with his trusting innocence and his little Bambi eyes, Bucky never stood a chance.</p>
<p>When she reached her table where he left his work is when the ringtone becomes clear, coming from his bag that he’d shoved under the table. She grabs the bag and pulls out the phone yelling out to Bucky that she’s got it.</p>
<p>“Friday, are you able to unlock it for me?”</p>
<p>“Of course, Miss Romanoff.”</p>
<p>The phone lights up and Natasha goes to his messages, underneath the groups numbers there’s a contact she doesn’t recognise, Peter had simply labelled them ‘Unknown’. Which makes her think that he must have changed the name before he left, knowing that the team would use their name to find them, obviously.</p>
<p>Going through the messages it was clear that some of them had been deleted. Peter knew they would find this. There was enough though to know that someone was influencing him, or at least were a factor in influencing him. Scrolling through there was one message which stood out.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Unknown – Remember what happened the last time you didn’t listen. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Unknown – Remember Ben?</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Unknown – He won’t be the only one to fall if you continue to disobey.</strong>
</p>
<p>“James. Come look at this.”</p>
<p>While Bucky looked at the messages Natasha decided to go through Peter’s bag. Everything was in there, everything seemed the way it normally did but she was missing something, she knew it.</p>
<p>“Someone was threatening him. His aunt kicked him out. What else are we missing James? What else didn’t we see?” Despite the way she usually acted the broken whisper revealed more than Bucky had seen her show in a long time.</p>
<p>Natasha was scared. No, she was terrified.</p>
<p>“We need to take this to Tony Nat. Maybe he can find something from this? We need to go back at least; they need to know someone is threatening him.” He watched as she continued to hold Peter’s bag, a look on her face he hasn’t ever seen. But he watched as her mask fell and she nodded before walking back to the elevator.</p>
<p>“I’m going to send a message to that number he gave me, maybe if he knows that we’re aware of what’s going on he might trust us.” She whispers then looks at him. “I’m not sure what to say though.”</p>
<p>For a moment the elevator was bathed in silence, Bucky looking ahead while Natasha stared at him. Silence until he turned towards her, “Just simply tell him we saw the messages. Tell him that we know some of it, just tell him if he’s in trouble we’ll go to him the moment he calls.”</p>
<p>“Okay, yeah okay I’ll tell him that.”</p>
<p>As the elevator opened they simultaneously took a deep breathe before walking out, knowing that the teams reactions to this were not going to be good.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? I hope this isn't too bad but thank you for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think this is the shortest one that I've written? I hope despite the fact that it's short that it doesn't suck!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While James filled in the team on what they found, Natasha watched them, wanting to see the thoughts and emotions that flickered across their faces. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them, she was just following what she was taught. Until Wanda’s eyes met with hers, clear fear radiating from them.</p><p>“Wanda? What is it?”</p><p>“You talked to Friday when you found the first letter right? She told you Peter wasn’t in danger, well he very clearly is! So how did he get past Friday?”</p><p>That was when Tony flicked around to stare at both her and Wanda and the amount of confusion and fear bouncing around the room was enough to give her a headache.</p><p>“Fri? Baby girl, when Peter told you he wasn’t in danger did you detect any sense of him lying? Any at all?”</p><p>“No Sir, my footage of him coming in isn’t completely accessible. I have him coming in but after about a minute the footage cuts Sir, both audio and visual has been removed. He somehow accessed my code to leave that message.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Tony demanded at his ceiling.</p><p>“I’ve only just been able to see that footage was removed, the coding he replaced with the original actually contains conversations of what I previously stated. It wasn’t until Miss Romanoff looked at the threats on Peter’s phone that I realised there was something off.” Friday informed.</p><p>Natasha once again made eye contact with Wanda who whispered hoarsely, “He hacked Friday.”</p><p>“I’m going to the lab to figure this out.” Tony got out while walking away, to which Bruce quickly followed after him knowing leaving him on his own was not an option right now.</p><p>While the group dispersed, each member not knowing what to do but watching as Natasha just slumped down next to Wanda who was seated in the corner of the sofa, knowing there’s nothing they can do for the two women but also desperately wishing for anything. Bucky taking the phone down to the lab to see if Tony can do anything with that.</p><p>When the others had all left Natasha grabbed her phone from her pocket and went to the number she had texted earlier. Still no response. Despite that she still sent another one, hoping that he was going to get them, she had no way of knowing unless he responded.</p><p>
  <strong>We read the messages Pete; we know you hacked Friday. I know you said that I shouldn’t worry. That none of us, should worry but it’s too late for that. Please just let me know you’re okay, I know you don’t want to come back but none of us completely understand why. If you’re scared of getting hurt, we can help you honey. Please let me know you’re okay. </strong>
</p><p>It wasn’t until Natasha had sent the message and placed down her phone that Wanda acknowledged her.</p><p>“I can’t lose him Natasha. I can’t lose my brother again.” The crack in her voice tore at Natasha’s already shattering heart, turning to face her fully she knew there wasn’t anything she could do to truly comfort the younger woman.</p><p>“We aren’t going to lose him.”</p><p>“How do you even know that though? He could be anywhere he could already be – “</p><p>“No. He’s fine. I’m sorry Wanda but I’m not going to even think of anything else unless I’m given concrete evidence to believe otherwise. He’s young and vulnerable yes but he’s aware of what he’s doing.” Natasha snapped.</p><p>The two women fell into silence as Wanda simply rested her head against Natasha’s shoulder as they both watched out the window, wondering if he was out there somewhere. Wondering if it was possible for him to see the tower from where he was or if he’s already gotten so far away that they weren’t even in his midst.</p><p>Neither women were sure how long they were sat in that silence before Wanda finally spoke up once again.</p><p>“I know we’re already aware that he’s not doing great from the fact that he ran, the letters and the messages but Nat I don’t think he’s been okay for a while. I mean if he was, he would have said something about all of this. He would have told us about May, about graduating, about getting threatened! I always felt pain around him, but I thought he would have eventually said something, why didn’t he say anything? Did he not trust us?” She cries to which Natasha pulls her into a hug.</p><p>“I think he trusted us. I honestly do. But maybe he thought we didn’t trust him? Or maybe, maybe he was so used to life he had, that we thought he still had, that it was easier to pretend. But at the end of it all the only person who can tell us is Peter himself and sitting here trying to figure it out isn’t going to do either of us any good so I think we should just go and try to sleep and hope something is figured out in the morning.” Natasha whispered to her.</p><p>Wanda simply sighed and nodded, both women knew there wasn’t anything they could do now except wait and so they went their separate ways to their rooms.</p><p>As Natasha got to her floor, she once again was hit with how hollow everything felt, today was Saturday, every Saturday that Peter was here he slept in the bedroom opposite hers. Tony really did have too much money, seeing as he was able to give everyone plenty of space, not that she was complaining. Peter did have his own room somewhere on Starks floor but every Saturday that he stayed over he stayed with her. In the few weeks before he left he started coming over more often, which she now knows is because of May, he always chose to stay with her, now that she thinks about it if he wasn’t living with May then where was he sleeping?</p><p>She wasn’t really surprised at the anger she felt burning in her body, anybody abandoning a child, yes Peter was a child whether he hated it or not, angered Natasha, especially when it was her kid they were hurting, but she never thought May would be the reason for that anger. Every time she had met the woman she seemed to love and care for Peter, how could she have missed the change, but what had happened to create that change?</p><p>She was doing the exact thing she told Wanda was pointless, wondering and questioning. Placing the phone next to her bed she waited, it wasn’t until she had fallen asleep that a notification came through.</p><p>A message from Peter.</p><p>
  <strong>I’m fine. I’m not in danger. I can fix this Tasha, but it’s safer on my own. I’m sorry. - Маленький паук</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Debating sending her that message, Peter finally built up the courage to send it, it wasn’t until he had already put the phone away that his senses flared with danger.</p><p>“Well, hello Itsy Bitsy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? Well here is Peter, six chapters I know I really dragged that one out didn't I. The next chapter will be all Peter. Thank you for taking the time to read!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, I wasn't going to add another chapter until yesterday but I feel like the last couple of chapters have just been filler and so I wanted to add more. Don't get me wrong I don't feel like this chapter is ground breaking or will give you a bigger idea of how the story will evolve but it's one chapter closer I suppose? Maybe the filler chapters are still technically information on the story, as you can see I'm a bit confused haha</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Friday morning</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>It had to be now. He had to go. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Leaving them all behind was almost physically painful, he didn’t want to leave them, he wanted to stay but it wasn’t safe. May’s words continued to bounce around in his head. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re a murder Peter.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was his fault, all of it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He had to keep running. </em>
</p><p>“Hey Itsy Bitsy.”</p><p>Peter swirled around, ready to strike but all he could see was the darkness of the night which swirled around him. Yet his senses continued to scream danger.</p><p>“You can’t see me yet Peter, I won’t allow it. But you’re listening, you’re learning. They’ll be safe as long as you listen.”</p><p>Peter continued to stare at where the voice was coming from, too afraid to move forward. Not of who was there, but of the consequences. He knew he could fight but there would be no need, the person speaking wasn’t in front of him, not completely anyway. He could do this.</p><p>“Okay what do I do now?”</p><p>He hoped desperately that they didn’t know of the texts and the letters, seeing as they were seemingly praising him, he thought perhaps luck was on his side. They wouldn’t be happy with him if they knew.</p><p>“I want you to continue to stay away, the Avengers are still trying to find you. You need to stay out of their view until they give up on you.”</p><p>Give up on him? Would they do that?</p><p>As much as that thought caused his heart to snap, he knew that the Avengers needed to forget about him, or at least publicly seem to have done. Peter knew he wasn’t helping by his actions but although he knew he needed to leave all he wanted is to be wrapped up with Tasha and to explain. She would help him, but he can’t let her.</p><p>“I know you miss them Peter but remember what your aunt said. You’re a murderer Peter.”</p><p>And with that part of the darkness was lifted and again Peter was alone.</p><p>What was he thinking? He shouldn’t have replied to Nat’s message. It doesn’t help, the letters are one thing the texting is another. But he doesn’t want them to forget him, he knows it’s the safest option for them and he was being selfish but they’re his family. He abandoned his family.</p><p>The tears began to roll down his cheeks as all he wanted to do was go home. Go home and be warm. Warm, safe and loved.</p><p>He shouldn’t have told Tasha he saw her as his mother that was so stupid. As if she would want a son like him, he knew she couldn’t have children and he was here twisting the knife deeper.</p><p>It doesn’t matter now he abandoned her.</p><p>Looking back at the tower that seemed so small so far away, he looked to the roof of the building. The roof where he and Nat sat and just spoke about everything and nothing. They’d made the roof their own little space, with Mr Stark’s help of course, they had everything they needed to make it as comfortable as they wanted. The number of jumpers and blankets stored up there due to Peter’s whacky body heat was almost ridiculous.</p><p>Bruce asked him once why he went up there, especially when it was cold, when he knew it wasn’t the safest place to be. He remembers laughing as he tried to explain how he just felt safe there. When Bruce told Natasha how his body didn’t produce heat the same due to the spider bite there was a second where he thought she’d never allow him up there again. They compromised he would tell her the moment he got cold, hence the blankets and jumpers.</p><p>He didn’t mean to cause all of these problems. He didn’t know.</p><p>He didn’t mean to make May hate him. He still doesn’t know when exactly she decided he wasn’t worth it, but he couldn’t blame her, with the amount of pain he brought her he’s honestly surprised it took this long. Despite all of that it still hurt. He loves her, he always will. She’s his aunt May.</p><p>The tears began to fall faster, and his sobs wracked his body, he slowly lowered himself to the floor. Feeling himself connect to the floor his tears rocked him to sleep.</p><p>God he just wanted to go home.</p><p>Walking around the streets of New York Peter began to wonder about what the Avengers were actually doing. Did they notice that he took with him a single blanket and some money he had been saving up?</p><p>Were they looking for him?</p><p>Did they miss him?</p><p>He had to find somewhere he could sleep before it got too cold, he didn’t need to be inside. He’s learnt that a couple of weeks ago. No, he just needs to find somewhere high up where he can stay dry, he can simply stick to where it would remain dry and have the blanket stick around his body to make sure he didn’t lose it.</p><p>Other than all of that he needed to make sure that wherever he decided to sleep he needed to make sure it gave enough cover that no one would actually see him, he might have left everything he needed to be Spiderman back at the tower, someone seeing him cling to the side of a building would give him away really quick.</p><p>Just because he isn’t Spiderman right now doesn’t mean he wants his identity leaked.</p><p>Finding a rooftop with adequate cover, he curled himself into a ball and made sure the blanket was stuck to his body he was finally able to sleep after being awake for 24 hours. Falling asleep he fell into a memory from before everything went wrong.</p><p>
  <em>Bucky continued to look forward at the TV as Peter approached with a small cardboard box, Natasha watching them from the sofa opposite, a small smile adorning her face. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Wolfie?” Peter voice came out softly, knowing speaking too loud or harsh tended to freak Bucky out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That was when Bucky actually turned to face him, an eyebrow raised in question. It was times like these when Peter thought of how Natasha and Bucky had a lot in similar. Obviously other than the whole tortured assassin thing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Holding the box in front of him, Peter slowly tipped it so that Bucky could see its contents. Magnets. ”Can I – Would – May I please see if your arm is magnetic?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It took a moment before Peter’s words finally registered, but when they did both of the adults chuckled and Bucky simply held his arm out, “Go ahead kid.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>For the next twenty minutes or so Peter just tested every magnet that he had found on Bucky’s arm, to his delight they all stuck, like a fridge. Then he got Natasha’s help in how to organise them in the best way. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Looking up after he was done, he was surprised to see the looks in their eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was really, love? Pride? He didn’t know. But Bucky’s other hand simply reached out to ruffle through Peter’s smile and his thoughts vanished as his face broke out into an even bigger grin and he tackled the two adults into a hug. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>All the time having one thought overcasting the others; he was home. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? I'm sorry that the story isn't going really quickly I just feel I have to set all these things up for it to flow properly, I hope that makes sense? Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm not in love with this chapter, I don't think it's my worst one or anything I just don't love it but more Bucky!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a month now. A month of radio silence after getting that one message from him. What did he mean by it? How could he not be in danger when someone is clearly threatening him?!</p>
<p>Natasha just sat there on her bed, her head against the wall just trying to figure out what on earth she should do. He said not to look for him, he said he would be in contact and then he went radio silent.</p>
<p>What does he need to fix?</p>
<p>Why couldn’t he come home? All she can do is sit there and remember when he was here, try to forget the gap he’s left behind, try to believe he’s just at school.</p>
<p>She’s unclear as to how long she’ll be allowed to sit here before one of her teammates come to get her. Try to convince her to do something, but she wants to stay here, if he’s going to bring her another letter then he wants to see him.</p>
<p>See with her own eyes that he’s okay.  </p>
<p>Eventually she was right, it’s Bucky’s turn today, he walked into her room and instead of trying to get her to speak he simply walked across to her bed and sat down with her. As soon as he was next to her Natasha moved her head to lay it on his shoulder and Bucky’s arm moved to wrap around her shoulder, they sat like this for who knows how long. Sat in silence just absorbing each other’s presence, all Natasha could do was close her eyes and try not to let her emotions overthrow her, trying her best not to break down.</p>
<p>After a while she felt Bucky’s head turn towards her and so she opened her eyes, the pain on his face made her desire to cry that much stronger. She knew he cared for Peter, she just wishes Peter knew it himself.</p>
<p>“I know you don’t want to do anything Nat, but you need to. Why don’t we go train? Turn everything you feel into anger.” He gently nudged her, “He wouldn’t want you to sit here moping about. You know he doesn’t want to see any of us, maybe he fears that if we try and convince him to stay that it’ll work. He wouldn’t give you a letter if he knew you’d see him doing it.”</p>
<p>Looking out across the window Natasha didn’t want to admit that he was true. Peter was out there; she knew he was. Turning back to James she decided maybe he was right, maybe Peter was waiting for her to move away so he could climb in and leave.</p>
<p>“Okay. Fine. Friday?”</p>
<p>“Yes Miss Romanoff?”</p>
<p>“If Peter comes in, unless he states otherwise, don’t alert any of us until he’s gone. I don’t want him to have to have to worry about hacking you again if I could just do what he wants. But will you let him know me and James are in the gym, that if he wants to see me, I would love to be able to see him too.”</p>
<p>“Of course, Miss.”</p>
<p>The two of them stood up, and before leaving the room Natasha glanced back at her window one more time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Watching Natasha and Bucky leave, Peter gripped the two letters in his grasp a little tighter. Seeing Nat just sitting there hurt him. He knew she was waiting for him; he knew he had waited to give these letters way later than either of them expected but he needed to wait until he was completely sure it was safe.</p>
<p>He slowly made his way to her window, being covered by the shadow of the balcony above her room. As he opened the window Friday’s voice nearly made him jump off the side.</p>
<p>“Hello Peter, Miss Romanoff already told me not to alert anyone to your presence. However, she did in fact tell me to inform you that both her and Mr Barnes are in the gym, and that if you want to go there you are welcomed. She misses you Peter, we all do.”</p>
<p>Controlling his breathing, Peter had to squash his idea of going down there. Of running down there and letting them help. But he couldn’t.</p>
<p>“I know Friday, I miss all of them too. But I can’t okay? I have a letter for both Tasha and Wolfie, do you think I would be able to get to his room without being seen?”</p>
<p>Peter didn’t want to climb down the wall to get into Bucky’s room, it would decrease the risk of any of the team spotting him, but it was much easier, and quicker, to get to his room from inside the tower.</p>
<p>“From my viewpoint I would say it is very unlikely that anyone would spot you.”</p>
<p>“Okay great. Thank you Fri!”</p>
<p>Placing Natasha’s letter down on her pillow, he quickly ran out and made his way to Bucky’s room. Placing the letter down on his pillow and climbing out of his window before once again carefully sliding down the side of the tower.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until he was back onto the roof he had been occupying for the last month, where he could clearly see the tower and was close enough in case they were under attack but also far away enough that if they came looking for him again he would have some distance on them.</p>
<p>Peter angled himself so he was facing the tower, watching the light flicker on in Natasha’s room and then a minute or so later Bucky’s light also flickered on causing a smile to grow on his face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>While they were taking a break from training, Bucky from punching one of the solider bags Tony had specifically made which could deal with the strength Steve gained from the serum, and Natasha from the shooting range area, not missing a single shot, Friday’s voice rung through the room.</p>
<p>“Miss Romanoff, Mr Barnes Peter has left a letter for each of you on your beds.”</p>
<p>Natasha was out of the room before Friday had even finished, Bucky understood why she’d been waiting for something from Peter for a month now of course she wouldn’t waste any time getting to it.</p>
<p>There was a second though where Bucky just froze, he understood Peter leaving a letter for Romanoff, it was clear they were close before he ran. He was aware that Natasha had always wanted to be a mother but after the Red Room that was impossible, he also knew that she wasn’t aware that’s what she had become for Peter until after he left which really did explain the pain that she was in.</p>
<p>She didn’t realise she had exactly what she wanted until it was already gone.</p>
<p>What Bucky didn’t understand was why Peter had left a letter to him.</p>
<p>“Friday? Are you sure Peter left one for me?”</p>
<p>“Yes Sir, Peter dropped your letter off last before slipping out of your window.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh. Okay.</em>
</p>
<p>When he was able to actually move his body he ran to his room, like Friday said sitting on his pillow was a single envelope with the name Wolfie scrawled across it in Peter’s familiar handwriting. He knew he should be careful, but he couldn’t help but tear the envelope open and pull the letter open needed to know what Peter could possibly want him to know.</p>
<p>
  <em>Hey Wolfie, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m really sorry. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I know I’m a coward and I’m so sorry that I’m disappointing you, but I promise you that I’m trying. Please don’t tell Tasha, but I don’t think I can do this Wolfie. It hurts. I want to come home, but they won’t let me. He keeps saying I’ll make it out of this alive, but I don’t trust him. It’s a cat and mouse game and I just have to keep running.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I don’t know how to really explain it though, if I come home then he won’t stop hunting down those that I care about. I didn’t listen. I didn’t listen and Ben took the fall for it and I can’t do that again. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I know you could all help, but I’m scared it’ll go wrong, that you’ll fail and I won’t have listened and all of you will have to take the fall for it. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I need to fix this, and I will. I’m not sure how yet which I know is stupid, but I promise I’ll make you proud Wolfie. I promise you. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Take Care of Tasha please. I know she’s struggling.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>PP.</em>
</p>
<p>Bucky just sat there on his bed staring at this single please of paper, he knew Peter was in pain, he knew something was wrong, but part of his brain was rejecting it. He hoped he was wrong, now he knew he was right.</p>
<p>Peter is in pain. Peter is hurt, and they still don’t know where he is.</p>
<p>They let him down. All of them, how could he ever think that Bucky was disappointed in him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed reading it more than I did writing it, I don't know what it is about this chapter it just feels weak I guess. Any advice? Thank you for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! I was going to add this chapter earlier but then college emails got in the way! I hope there's no mistakes, I've read through it but I'm exhausted so if I've missed any mistakes I'm sorry! Oh! Also I am not Russian, I've been trying to learn Russian for nearly a year now but I'm no where near good enough to be able to form my own sentences and so had to use google translate. So if what I wrote isn't what I attended I apologise and please do correct me x</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Running to her room Natasha was aware of what Friday had said, Peter wrote to Bucky too. That was good right? That’s process.</p>
<p>There on her bed was the familiar sight, an envelope laying on her pillow with her name scrawled across it. How long now before she could see him? Before she could hug him and know with her own eyes that he is okay.</p>
<p>
  <em>Hey Tasha, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m sorry about all of this. The running and the hiding and the whole cat and mouse game that’s going on. I thought I could do it you know, I thought I’d have this handled in a week at most and be able to come back. I really am an idiot. This is a lot worse than I thought. I have really miscalculated this. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I don’t know when it’s going to be over, I don’t know if it ever will. I’m sorry I let you down. I know you trained me to be strong but I’m not strong like you and Wolfie. I’m so weak Tasha. I have to do this. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>But I’m no hero. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m sorry I took so long to get something to you, but I had to ensure it was safe. I see that you’re struggling but let them help you, please. For me? Just because I messed up doesn’t mean that you should have to suffer too. You need to live. You deserve a life outside of wondering what I’m doing, I don’t have to be your problem anymore. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Remember Germany? When you first met me, you had no reason to trust me and it certainly showed on your face. You were like “Who the hell is this?” I remember how angry you got with Mr Stark when you realised that I was only 14. When everyone used to tell me I was too young for this I didn’t get it, thought that they just didn’t understand but now? Now I get it. Now that it’s too late to get out. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I made a mistake Tasha; I should never have been given any of this. I don’t deserve it. If anything, he’s certainly made that clear. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I wish I could be there, at home. I’m being hunted Tasha, if I stop running then he’ll catch up and it’ll be game over. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I have no idea how I’m going to get out of this one, I’m trying my best. I know you think that I am being an idiot, that if I came back you guys could fix it but it isn’t safe. I don’t want to lose anyone else.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Take care and take care of Wolfie, please. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>PP.</em>
</p>
<p>Reading his words Natasha quickly tells Friday to initiate the blackout procedure for her room and it isn’t until she knows that she’s completely alone that she truly allows herself to break down. She couldn’t help but scream, scream until she collapsed to the floor, her sobs overtaking her body.</p>
<p>Her boy is in pain and there is nothing she could do. He won’t let her do anything.</p>
<p>She wishes she could just put the pieces together, figure everything out so that she could find him, wrap her arms around him and bring him home. He’s so young yet he’s faced so much pain. More pain than any child should ever feel.</p>
<p>When she finds who’s doing this to Peter, she is going to tear them apart. No one hurts her family, no one touches her son.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After collecting himself Bucky picked up his letter before rummaging through his closet, knowing what may bring him and Natalia some comfort, but no matter where he looks, he can’t find it. So, Peter must have taken it. Then he just goes to the elevator, letter in hand.</p>
<p>“Friday could you take me to Natasha’s floor please?”</p>
<p>“I’m unable to do that Sir.”</p>
<p>“Why’s that?” What was going on? What’s Natalia doing?</p>
<p>“I’m afraid she’s initiated the blackout procedure Sir.” <em>Oh no.</em></p>
<p>“Okay, I know what that means but could you ask if I could get in? I know that’s against the rule but I’m worried now, she only initiates that if somethings wrong and if something is then she shouldn’t be on her own.”</p>
<p>“Hold on Sir I will ask.” The silence that followed couldn’t have lasted more than a minute but with everything going on that moment felt too long. “She has given permission for you to go ahead, I will take you to her floor now.”</p>
<p>“Thank you Friday.”</p>
<p>Getting off onto Natalia’s floor, at first everything seemed calm, normal. That was until he heard the crying coming from her bedroom and he couldn’t help but run to her.</p>
<p>The sight that greeted him cracked his heart further, there on the floor next to her bed was Natasha, sobbing. Never once in all of the years that he had known her had he ever seen her break like this.</p>
<p>“Эй, Наталья, эй, что случилось? Что он написал?” (Hey, Natalia, hey, what happened? What did he write?) He didn’t know what to do as he moved to sit with her, and so speaking Russian seemed the only option. She seemed to vert back to it in times of distress when it was just the two of them, or them two and Peter.</p>
<p>“Ему больно. Ему так больно.” (He's in pain. He's in so much pain.)  She sobbed out.</p>
<p>“I know, I know but hey you need to calm down. This isn’t going to help. You know what this means right? Because I don’t care what he says, we are going to figure this out and bring him back.” Bucky moved his hand to her cheek, lifting her head so that she was looking him in the eyes, the heartbreak in hers feeling like pins being shoved through his heart.</p>
<p>“He’s probably so cold.” That wasn’t what he expected in response. Not at all.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“He – Because of the whole spider bite. His body – his temperature, he can’t control it. He could freeze.” She looks out of her window. “He’s probably so cold.”</p>
<p>So that’s why he took it.</p>
<p>“I don’t think he is.” Natasha’s head whipped back to him. “That blanket we always used when we’d sit together, the one that was large enough to cover all free of us. It’s gone, Peter took it. He could wrap himself in that like three times, there’s no way he can be cold in that.”</p>
<p>Bucky watched as his words digested, saw Natasha’s eyes fill up with tears once more but watched as her eyes closed and as she just curled forward, resting against him to absorb as much comfort as possible.</p>
<p>This was new. This was vulnerable.</p>
<p>All he knew to do was wrap his arms around and pull her closer to his chest, try to offer her as much comfort as he had to offer, but he knew the only time when she would rest was when Peter was safe. Safe with them. It was time to plan though.</p>
<p>He wasn’t going to sit back anymore, no. Bucky loved the kid, of course he did, and he wanted to do what he said. He wished he was able to simply sit and wait for him to figure it out himself and then come home but Peter said it himself.</p>
<p>
  <em>I don’t think I can do this Wolfie.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any advice? The next chapter gives some insight into something (I don't want to give it away without giving away too much)! Thank you for reading!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi me again with what the third chapter in a row? I will probably also update tomorrow because college starts up again on Monday (online of course) and my A-Levels are doing a pretty good job of removing the few brain cells that I have left and so I may update slower, but I will try to go back to a chapter every two nights if possible. Anyway enter May!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eventually Bucky loosened his grip on Natasha, but he was careful not to move her.</p><p>“We need to go out looking again. Maybe even go to May, she has some form of answers she must do there’s no way she doesn’t.” The break in the silence seemed to shock Natasha back into reality as he felt the slightest flinch from her. One he wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t have felt it.</p><p>“James, he said he doesn’t want us to- “</p><p>“No.” Cutting her off wasn’t a smart choice. You don’t shush the Black Widow. But right now, this was more important trying not to regret it as he felt her tense up. “I know he doesn’t want us out there but I’m not doing it. He isn’t safe, he said it himself he doesn’t think he can do this, that’s enough of a green light for me. He wants help, he’s just scared of the consequences.”</p><p>For a moment Natalia did nothing, she just sat there gathered in his arms she was thinking though he knew that.</p><p>“You’re right. But we question May first. I have a lot of questions for that woman.”</p><p>“Okay then.”</p><p> </p><p>Pulling up to the Peter’s apartment, or well his old apartment the two spies felt their anger bubbling. They knew nothing of what has gone down with Peter, what he’s facing or why he ran but one thing they both agree with is that May Parker took part in it.</p><p>Bucky watched as Natasha knocked on the door, ready to prevent May from slamming it closed, but she didn’t. As May opened Bucky didn’t see any fear, any remorse or any sadness in the woman’s eyes, only clear disdain and frustration towards the two Avengers stood at her door. Bucky watched as this only fuelled Natalia’s anger more, and which caused her to push past the woman into her house, Bucky following behind.</p><p>“What do you know?” Natasha demanded.</p><p>“What do I know? What do I know about what? About Peter? Not much. I don’t know where he is if that’s what you’re asking?” May responded. The two observed as the woman simply didn’t care about the fact her nephew was missing.</p><p>“What happened between the two of you?” Bucky asked trying to gain control of the situation, thinking if he basically played good cop, they might get some valuable information here.</p><p>Bucky observed as at that question May froze, then she just swirled around and the anger in her eyes was nearly enough for him to show the shock on his face, nearly.</p><p>“What went down? Are you serious? That boy is ungrateful. The moment he found a sense of family with the two of you, the moment he found people who could be his mother and his father, I hardly mattered. He was so happy with the two of you, a happiness he should have felt with me. So, no I don’t know where he went, and I don’t care. He murdered my husband and then decided his aunt wasn’t enough. I couldn’t give him a real family, he was ungrateful. He’s not my problem anymore, he’s yours. He’s been yours for a while. Now get out of my house!” May’s screams didn’t scare the two of them the way she intended, her trying to invade their personal space while screaming at them wasn’t doing what she thought it would.</p><p>All Bucky could do was hold his breathe as Natalia straightened her posture, but luckily instead of harming the woman she stormed out of the apartment and Bucky allowed himself to breathe out as he followed her to the car.<br/><br/></p><p>
  <em>I don’t have to be your problem anymore. </em>
</p><p>Natasha wanted to scream. She wanted to turn the car back around, go back into May’s apartment and make the woman regret everything. But Peter wouldn’t want that.</p><p>Peter doesn’t like violence.</p><p>She could feel Bucky watching her, she knew he was concerned, she knew he wanted to talk about it. Both of them were shocked. Peter saw both of them as his parents, as his family. The mother thing wasn’t new to her but Bucky being a father figure? Now that, that was new. But it made sense.</p><p>How could she abandon him for that though? That was a side of May Parker that Natasha never believed she would see.</p><p>“What did she mean Peter murdered Ben?” Bucky finally broke the violence. “In my letter he said he didn’t listen, and Ben took the fall for it. What does that mean?”</p><p>He didn’t listen and Ben took the fall? Wait, every time he mentioned coming back or asking for help, he would say it wasn’t safe.</p><p>“The person threatening him. The number we found on the phone. They said Ben won’t be the only one to fall if he continues to disobey.” She thought out loud. “They killed Ben. “He’s running away from a killer.”</p><p>So, her biggest fears were coming true. Part of her just hoped it was something small, she knew it was stupid thinking it, but she just didn’t want to believe his life was in danger. That someone who had killed his only remaining blood relative was now once again coming for him.</p><p>“We’ll find him Nat.” Bucky whispered to her.</p><p>Natasha wasn’t going to stop until she did.</p><p> </p><p>Peter just wanted to go to sleep. He would like nothing more to be curled up on the sofa between Natasha and Bucky but clinging to the blanket he took which he had shoved into the crevasse of his selected roof, (Yes, he had a selected roof.) he knew that wasn’t happening. Sleeping also apparently going to happen at all right now, he was calling him again. Looking over the side of the roof and yep, there he was waiting in the shadows.</p><p>“Come on down Itsy Bitsy, we need to talk.” As much as he wanted to sleep, he crawled down the side of the wall until he was stood in front of the shadows. He just needed to do as told.</p><p>“Yeah? Is everything okay? Do you need something from me?” <em>Please don’t know about the letters. Oh god what if he knows about the letters? Would he kill me or would he kill –</em></p><p>“Everything is fine Spider. I just wanted you to meet some of my friends.” <em>Friends? </em></p><p>Peter knew his spider sense was screaming at him, but not for the man in front of him like he had thought. He realised it too late though as he felt the needle go into his neck and his world when dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So May isn't great, sorry to any May Parker fans out there I just didn't feel it made sense for her to not be bad in this? I don't know why but I didn't know how to include her without her being a factor for Peter's struggles. This chapter is really short for which I apologise but I didn't want to throw multiple things in at once to take away from May being bad and I guess this is the chapter where the main part starts? I honestly have no idea. Who's the friends? Any advice? Thank you for taking the time of day (or night, but if it's night then like maybe try sleeping? I say as I upload this at 2am) to read this x</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here is my fourth update in a row!? (Is it four I've lost count already, I'm bad at maths okay) Well like I said college starts up again soon and it's been really hectic so I don't know if I'll be able to update as regularly so I apologise if that is the case! This is where the reasons as to why I used the violence warning begins, this chapter isn't itself violent but it's where it begins just a heads up! Here are the bad guys!!!! Let me know if you guessed!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All he could feel was pain. Even breathing hurt.</p><p>Peter had no idea where he was, it was dark, he was strapped down and he was in pain. No matter how hard he tried to get out he couldn’t break the restraints, the skin on his wrists torn from him trying to break out of them.</p><p>He could hear the people outside, there was only one voice he could recognise. Norman Osborn.</p><p>Peter had done what he said, he’s listened, he had obeyed and done exactly what he wanted, why was he here? Where even was he?</p><p>The door behind him opened and two men came in, Norman was one of them, of course, but the other man Peter didn’t know. But although he had no idea who this man was part of him knew that he should, he knew to be scared of this man.  </p><p>“Ah I see you’re finally awake Peter,” oh how he wished he could punch Norman in the face, “This man with me here, well does the name Strucker ring a bell?”</p><p>
  <em>Strucker? </em>
</p><p>At his name Peter remembered a conversation he had with Wanda.</p><p>
  <em>“So, you’re telling me you got your abilities from a rouge, radioactive spider? On a school trip no less?” Wanda asked him after she’d finished laughing at him, the amusement clearly apparent on her face. “That has to be the best way to get your powers.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I mean it was either right place at the right time or wrong place at the wrong time depending on who’s looking at it. I mean it did make me really sick for a few days so that part sucked.” Peter laughed back. “So, how’d you get yours?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I got mine in a very different way to yours. Me and Pietro we lost our parents to a bomb when we were 10 by one of Stark’s bombs, we resented him for a long time and a couple years later we were recruited by a man named Strucker. He used the Scepter on us and I got my powers and Pietro got him. We worked with the wrong people to get them, we thought we were doing what was right but in the end we weren’t. Strucker saw our grief and our resentment and wanted to use it, we let him.” </em>
</p><p> “You’re Hydra?” No, no this isn’t good, he did what Norman wanted why was he here?</p><p>“So, you are smart enough to connect the dots?” Strucker mocked him, “Well I mean you weren’t smart enough to tell all of the Avengers what was going on. They have no idea where you are, or where you’ve gone. They don’t even know you’ve been taken.”</p><p>Peter knew part of that was right, for now they didn’t know but what about when the communication stopped? I mean yeah, he took a month a month to get one to them last time, but they wouldn’t wait forever, would they?</p><p>“It’s time to do some tests Mr Parker, see how greatly that spider bite actually changed you.”</p><p>Wait what?</p><p>Peter didn’t get much time to think before he felt a scalpel cutting open his chest.</p><p>“Let’s see how long you take to heal.” Strucker smirked at him, which turned into a smile the moment Peter began to scream.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were in the meeting room when it happened. They were discussing how to get Peter back, or at least how to find him.</p><p>Then Wanda’s cup smashed on the ground. Followed by Wanda herself, screaming.</p><p>The second the cup hit the floor Natasha was out of her seat and she only just prevented Wanda from hitting the floor, but she had to sink down with her.</p><p>Wanda’s sobbing scared all of them, Natasha could see it. The last time she had been like this was when Pietro died.</p><p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p><p>“Wanda, hey, hey I need you to look at me okay. I need you to tell me what’s going on.” Clint tried to coax out of her, kneeling down in front of the two of them but all Wanda did was grip Natasha tighter, “Okay everyone get out. Give them space.”</p><p>Watching her team leave Natasha wrapped her arms around Wanda as tight as she could, the fear pulsing through her causing her to need some kind of grounding.</p><p>“Wanda what happened? What did you see? Natasha pleaded to her.</p><p>Please don’t be dead.</p><p>“They – they got him Nat, they got him.” Wanda sobbed out. Her eyes glazed over but still shining red.</p><p>“Who got him? Where is he?”</p><p>“They got him.” She continued to mumble, “They got him.”</p><p>“Wanda! Who?”</p><p>Suddenly Wanda spun around in her arms and the only thing Natasha felt was her hands connecting with her head before the image was placed in her mind.</p><p>
  <em>Peter. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter strapped down to a table. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter screaming.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter being hurt. </em>
</p><p>Coming back out of Wanda’s head Natasha abruptly stood up, Wanda watching her from the floor unable to stop the tears streaming down her face.</p><p>“Nat how did Hydra get him?” Wanda choked out, “How did they find him?”</p><p>Natasha just continued to pace back and forth. The one thing she didn’t want, the one thing she hoped wouldn’t happen is happening right now and they couldn’t stop it.</p><p>“Do you know where they are?” She finally asked Wanda.</p><p>“No. Just some dark room, that’s all I could see of the room.” It was then that her eyes burned red once again, Natasha froze at that, waiting until Wanda’s eyes changed again. “I know who has him. Get the team back in here Friday, please.”</p><p>“Of course, Miss Maximoff.”</p><p>It took less than a minute for the full team to stream back into the room, as soon as they were all sat down Wanda just blurted it out.</p><p>“He’s been taken by Norman Osborn and Strucker. So, Hydra. Hydra has him.”</p><p>
  <em>Oh god. </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Natasha was trying her best not to think, after the meeting she’d gone down to the training room, where still was, and just continued to punch the boxing bad that was hung up in the room.</p><p>Despite her best efforts all she could hear was Peter’s screams and so she continued to throw one punch after the other. The skin on her knuckles splitting, the pain didn’t reside in her head though, too busy trying to get the images of Peter and his screams out of her head that she couldn’t feel it.</p><p>That was until Bruce walked in, he wasn’t truly a medical doctor but somehow, he had become the doctor of the team, Friday notifying him as Natasha continued to punch the bag.</p><p>“Natasha you need to stop.”</p><p>“Why?” She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to find the bastards who took her son.</p><p>“Because this isn’t going to help. You needed to wrap your hands but since you didn’t do that now you need to clean them up. Natasha, I get it, you’re scared and you’re angry, but this isn’t going to change anything. So, go clean your hands and then get back up there and help us find out how to get him back.” Was all he said to before leaving the room.</p><p>He was right and god she hated that. She’s punched her way through a lot of things, but she couldn’t punch her way through this. Eventually she went to medical and sorted her hands out before going back to the group.</p><p>The instant she walked through the door she regretted it though, as all eyes turned to her all she could see was fear.</p><p>“What happened?” She hated that look. That look meant things got worse, how could things have gotten worse?</p><p>“We got a message.” Tony whispered to which she cocked her head. A message? “From Hydra, they sent us a voice message, we haven’t played it yet, wanted to wait for you. Whatever is on it can’t be good Nat.”</p><p>Sitting down next to James, without even asking he grabbed her hand, offering her the only sense of comfort that he could.</p><p>“Play it.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed! If there's any mistakes please point them out so I can correct them! Any advice? Thank you for reading!! x</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi I'm back! (I know I was only gone for four days but I feel bad so I'm sorry!!) Here's chapter 12 and the main reason I put the violence tag, I don't believe it's too explicit but if you think it would make you uncomfortable then please don't worry. There is some information in this that is big for the characters but if missed it isn't wouldn't leave a big gap in the story and I will sum it up in the end notes!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Play it.”</p><p>None of them wanted to hear this, they knew it couldn’t be good, but Natasha squeezed James’ hand a little tighter. If this was going to help them find Peter, then it would be worth it.</p><p>“Friday, go ahead.” Tony spoke up, the moment of silence which followed was deafening before the video played, but the screaming was so much worse.</p><p>
  <em>“Please I’m sorry! I’m sorry – please – I can’t!” </em>
</p><p>They all watched as the knife sunk into Peter’s chest, watched as the blood began to stream down his side as they cut him open. Surrounding Peter was a group of five men, all wearing masks and outfits with that stupid Hydra symbol etched into them.</p><p>How could they do this?</p><p>
  <em>“Stop it!”</em>
</p><p>Peter was crying, no he was sobbing. None of them could blame him either, they hadn’t stopped at his chest, the team watched as they burn him, luckily, they didn’t brand the Hydra symbol into him, but they still burned him. Natasha saw as Peter started chocking on his breath.</p><p>“Stark please tell me you’re tracking this. I want that destination now.” She snapped, was it Tony’s fault? No, but if they had to watch this, if Peter had to go through this, it better be for something.</p><p>
  <em>“Shut it Itsy Bitsy, no one even cares that you’re gone.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“W-what?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No one cares about you Peter. You murdered your Uncle, your Aunt abandoned you and the Avengers never even cared for you in the first place.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No – no! That’s a lie they do care, they do!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Do they? Then where are they Spidey? You’re bleeding out on a table and they’re sat in their luxurious tower watching you. They aren’t coming for you Peter because they don’t care if you life or if you die.” </em>
</p><p>How dare they? The moment Natasha got her hands on these men she was going to tear them apart.</p><p>“Stark are you tracking it!?”</p><p>“I’m trying Red!”</p><p>
  <em>“Stop please! What do you want from me?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We want to know what makes you tick Паук, we want to know how you work. We want to see if you can be recreated.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Sir, we can’t actually do that, remember? They wouldn’t survive.”</em>
</p><p>Wait, what? They wouldn’t survive?</p><p>“Bruce what does that mean?” Thank god for James.</p><p>“I – I don’t know? I mean Peter is an anomaly, he himself shouldn’t have survived the spider bite, he should have died from the radiation, but he didn’t. We were trying to figure it out before he left, we never got to the answer though.”</p><p>“So, the bite should have killed him?</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Peter didn’t know how long he’d been there. The pain in his torso wasn’t going away, they didn’t want him to heal it seemed, whenever his system would kick in, they’d just cut him open again. Apparently, they were timing it each time, wanting to know if the time changed.</p><p>He turned his head and just stared. Stared at that little red blinking light. Was it true? Were the Avengers watching him? Did they care? He needed it to stop.</p><p>“Turn it off, please. Just turn it off.”</p><p>“What? Turn what off Spider?”</p><p>“The camera, please just turn it off.”</p><p>“Well then, say bye bye Itsy Bitsy. They aren’t going to be seeing you again for a long time.”</p><p>But all he could do was turn his head away once again, he didn’t want to say goodbye. He didn’t want them to leave him. They already had though, hadn’t they? Strucker said so himself. They didn’t even care that he was gone.</p><p>“How did you survive the bite then Peter? Surely you have it all figured out if my buddy Norman over there knows.”</p><p>“Well Strucker- “</p><p>“I wasn’t asking you Norman! So, shut it! I was asking our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man what he knows. So, go ahead Parker, spill it.”</p><p>“I – I don’t know. I was trying to figure it out and then I left. What do you know?” Peter turns to Norman as he asks that.</p><p>He knew that Norman knew a lot about him, that was obvious, but how did he know something about Peter, that Peter himself didn’t know?</p><p>“Norman? What did you find out about me?” Peter was scared, of course he was he’d been kidnapped but this fear was different. He wanted to know this information but part of him knew that whatever it was, whatever Norman knew couldn’t be good.</p><p>“Well Mr Parker, your parents were scientists yes?”</p><p>“I – yeah?”</p><p>“You thought they were the good guys all this time. Thought that they were scientists working for the good of the earth. Well, I hate to break it to you Peter, but they were not. They were scientists, scientists here at Hydra, their first experiment was you. You were created to be Spider-Man Peter. It was all purposeful, they altered your DNA so that the spider bite wouldn’t kill you but enhance you and as you know it worked.” Norman walked around him as he spoke, grabbing the knife on his left and dragging it down Peter’s side as he walked, not harsh enough to go through like the first cut but enough to make him bleed. Enough for it to hurt. “They also didn’t die in a plane crash Petey, no that never happened. Well, I mean we were on a plane. The point of the experiment was to create you, you were supposed to be their test subject, not their son. But they got attached, they wanted to get you out and fix everything before taking you away. We couldn’t allow that but when we disposed of them, they had already gotten you away, we couldn’t find you, until you walked into Oscorp. When that spider bit you I thought I was going to have a body on my hands, but I think you can imagine my surprise when you survived, and I knew I had found my missing Parker.”</p><p>“I’m a science experiment?” Peter whispered.</p><p>His parents had loved him, hadn’t they? Whenever he thought of them, Mary mainly, all he could feel was warmth, was that a lie? They didn’t want a son; they wanted a test subject. He wasn’t supposed to have a life.</p><p>May was right, he’s a murderer. His parents are dead because of him. Ben is dead because of him. His existence killed them. May was right to be afraid of him, but why did Ben have to die?</p><p>“You killed my parents because they tried to run. What did Ben do?”</p><p>“Well, you see, we tried to take you away, Ben intervened. He convinced May that it was safer if you were with them. He needed to be removed so we could get to you. How does it feel to know his death wasn’t worth it, you basically handed yourself over to us. His death means nothing to you does it?”</p><p>“W-what? No, no of course it does. I listened to you because of it. You said you’d hurt the Avengers; I didn’t want his death to be in vain!”</p><p>“No Peter, you betrayed everyone that you love. No wonder May wanted to get rid of you. The moment we got in touch with her she was ready to hand you over to us, you had replaced her. She is done with you. The moment you ran from the Avengers they were done too, they were happy to wipe their hands clean of you. You’re nothing but a pest Parker. At least now you’re of use.” Norman was mocking him, belittling him and Peter knew it. But it worked. May did want him gone, May had known him forever so why would the Avengers be any different?</p><p>“Alright Osborn time to get out. I’ve had enough of this conversation. It’s time to figure out how he works.” Was all the warning Strucker gave before once again slicing the knife down Peter’s torso. Peter tried not to scream but the wounds he already had were making it difficult, how long would this take?</p><p>“Bye bye Peter!” Norman hollered before walking through the door.</p><p>“Now then men, it’s time to see how he tics.” Strucker demanded.</p><p>No matter how loud Peter screamed, no one was coming.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Not my favourite chapter to write I won't lie but for those of you who didn't wish to read the full chapter to avoid the violence here is a short summary of what happened. So, the Avengers received a video of Peter being tortured by Strucker, Osborn and a group of people from Hydra, from the video everyone (including Peter) learns that he should have died from the bite, but not why. Also in the video they essentially tell Peter no one cares for him and no one is coming to get him (which is obviously not correct) and Peter begins to believe them and he asks them to shut the camera off as he doesn't want anyone to watch what's happening to him. Then it cuts to Peter's POV where he learns that Strucker wants to see how he works and learns that the reason the spider bite didn't kill him is because his biological parents were apart of Hydra and he was originally created to be an experiment. Peter's parents then decided to run away from Hydra a little while after Peter is born but they do not survive that. </p><p>Hi, thank you for taking the time to read, please tell me what you think, I've never written anything like this before writing this story so I really hope it doesn't suck. Any advice?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thought I would add another chapter because why not? This one is the longest chapter I've updated so far I believe so I hope that's not a problem. It's not drastically longer though and this chapter is only Bucky's POV as it when I was writing it I didn't feel like I needed to change it, if that makes sense? Anyway I hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bucky watched as Peter’s head turned towards the camera, felt the way Natasha’s grip on his hand tightened. That look in his eyes hurt, there was so much pain there, so much fear but the worst part was the disconnect. He believed them. He believed that they didn’t care about him.</p><p>
  <em>“Turn it off, please. Just turn it off.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What? Turn what off Spider?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The camera, please just turn it off.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well then, say bye bye Itsy Bitsy. They aren’t going to be seeing you again for a long time.”</em>
</p><p>Bucky almost screamed at that, he didn’t want to see Peter like this, of course he didn’t none of them did. But the longer it played then the more accurate the tracking would be, Peter knew that, but he believed them though didn’t he, he was laid there thinking that they were just sat here watching him get cut up. Not caring about him. Did it even play long enough for Stark to get a location?</p><p>“Stark, please tell me you got something?” Natasha pleaded; well, he could hear the pleading he knew she would sound detached to most of the others. “Tell me you got a location.”</p><p>“I didn’t get a specific location, but I got the location down to a ten-mile radius, I know it’s not ideal but it’s something. The only problem is that there are a lot of places to search in that ten-mile radius where they could be hiding. So, it isn’t going to be a quick search and I don’t think we can do the whole split off into pairs thing we did for the first search, it wouldn’t be safe. But I think we may find him in two to three days, unless they move.”</p><p>Okay so that wasn’t great, it could be worse, but it wasn’t what any of them wanted to hear, Wanda was sobbing in Clint’s arms, Pepper was slumped against Tony, Steve and Sam had their heads in their hands, Thor was just staring at the blank screen and Nat. Well Bucky could feel her start to shake, shake with what he wasn’t sure, fear, sadness, rage it could just be all free, her eyes were blank and the only way he knew she was shaking was because she was allowing him to know. If you were to just look at her you wouldn’t see it, but she had pressed herself into his side, she wanted to leave.</p><p>“Alright then, I know we want to start searching now but we can’t.” At those words the whole room turned to look at him, shock and anger filtering through the majority of their expressions. “It’s late, most of us are exhausted, so we go to bed now and we all set out tomorrow. Try and get some sleep because you’re going to need it.” With that he pulled Natasha up and directed her towards the elevator. He needed to get her away from everyone before she exploded, she loves and trusts her family, he knows that, but he also knows she doesn’t like them seeing her vulnerable.</p><p>It wasn’t until they stepped out onto Natasha’s floor that she dropped Bucky’s arm, he followed her as she walked away to the kitchen. Natasha hadn’t actually said anything yet and Bucky is worried, worried about what she was going to do first, somehow, he didn’t expect her to grab a glass from her cupboard and throw it at the wall before sliding down the floor herself, but he sat down next to her anyway.</p><p>“We’re going to get him Nat.” At those words she finally made eye contact, but from the look in her eyes he knew it those words didn’t comfort her the way he had wanted them to.</p><p>“We’ve been saying that for how long now? We’ll find him. We’ll get him back. He’ll be okay. But we haven’t and he isn’t. We’ve failed him James. I thought we had failed him when we couldn’t find him, now after that video? We allowed him to get hurt. Sorry about the glass.” Natasha’s eyes fell back down to the shards on the floor.</p><p>“I know Nat, I know. Don’t worry about the glass, I’m surprised you didn’t do worse, I sure want to.</p><p>“I don’t want to let it all out, I want to hold onto it because the moment I find them men I’m going to tear them apart.”</p><p>“Alright then instead of thinking about all of this why don’t we think of something else, something better, because I was serious, we do need to get rest so that we can go searching in the morning?”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“We’re going to think of good memories, okay? I want to know the first moment you can think off when you realised that you cared about Peter.”</p><p>“Okay then.”</p><p>
  <em>It was a random Wednesday when Peter came bounding onto the floor, Natasha was sat reading while Clint and Sam played Mario Cart, everyone else was scattered around some on their floors and some, Tony and Bruce, in the labs. She expected him to run in, realise Tony wasn’t here and run off to find him. But he didn’t. He stopped in front of her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Miss Romanoff?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Looking up from her book she noticed Clint and Sam staring at the two of them, they needed to mind their own business, it’s not like she was going to hurt the child. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Can you – I mean sorry hi, could you come with me please?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Huh? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fine, where are we going?” Natasha asked him, closing her book before standing up. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She expected to have to keep up with him as he turned and bounded back, what she didn’t expect, was for Peter to grab her hand and drag him with her shouting, “To my room!” over his shoulder. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Getting to his floor Natasha again didn’t know what to expect, she had no idea what he wanted, and she didn’t like not knowing. She wasn’t close to Peter, Stark dragged him into this mess, so he was Starks responsibility. Was she scared of getting close to him? Yes, in a way, he went out there every night and put himself in danger, getting close to him opened herself up for pain. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Stay there for a minute.” He told her before he ran off to his room. What on earth was going on? He was gone for about two minutes before he walked back in with a wrapped box and in that moment, she allowed her confusion to show on her face. “Here.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What is it?” He had just shoved a box into her arms. “Why have you given me this?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s a present, a present for you. Do you want to open it? You don’t have to keep it, or like it if it sucks just let me know it’s nothing special.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Okay yes, his rambling was sweet, she didn’t understand why he had given her a present but right now she was more curious about what the present was. So, she began to open it and there in the box was a pair of knives, the two knives were quite thin in design but clearly sharp, without even using them she knew it was Vibranium, knew despite them being thin they would hold better than her others. There were two needles slightly sticking out from the bottom of them and at that she turned to Peter, the question clear on her face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well, you know how you have your Widow Bites? When you pull the needle out of the knife it releases electricity into it, only the knife part not the handle, and the electricity lasts for about five minutes. The best part is only you can pull the needles out, they have a fingerprint scanner and I only put yours on so that you would feel safer using them. They aren’t the best thing I know I just had the idea. Do you like them?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Natasha nearly missed that last bit, his voice dropped to a whisper as if he was afraid of her answer, so she allowed her smile to show and surprisingly she didn’t regret. The shock she expected to see on his face of her showing any emotion wasn’t there like it had been on her teammates, no he just looked happy to see have made her happy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I really like them Peter, but why’d wrap them up like this if you just had an idea to make them? When you finished them, you could have just told Friday to get me to come down to the lab?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>At her questions she watched as Peter got uncomfortable again, his body tensed, and he averted his eyes back down to the floor, all of the joy from earlier seemed to just drain out of him. Did she scare him? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Peter, you can tell me I won’t be mad. I promise.” Peter began to shuffle his feet, why was he so uncomfortable? “It’s okay Peter.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I – I overheard Tony and Bruce talking about birthdays, when they got to you, they talked about how they didn’t know when your birthday was, and they didn’t think you knew either. That made me feel sad because people should have a birthday to celebrate them even if they don’t want anything big. I can’t give you your birthday because I don’t know it, but today, the 20<sup>th</sup>of June, as you know, is the first day of summer and I thought of an idea to make you something that I thought you would like and give it to you today. I thought maybe today could be a kind of birthday. A you day! I know it’s a bit dumb and I know you don’t want to spend it with me, but you deserve a day for you, if that makes sense. Sorry I rambled again.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Natasha couldn’t help but stare at Peter for a moment. She tried so hard not to get to know this kid, thinking the only thing it would bring her was pain but listening to him she didn’t get it, he was so sweet and innocent, yet he went out every night and saw the horrors of New York and bounced back like a puppy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Looking back down at the box on her lap she wanted to cry, no one had ever done anything like this for her, not even close. Yet here was this kid who she hardly knew just wanting to give her a day, a kid she removed herself from, a kid she hardly spoke to, a kid she had tried so hard to keep away from. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>She should have known he’d find a way in eventually, even if he didn’t intend to. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Pushing the box onto the table next to her, Natasha abruptly stood up and before she could think twice pulled Peter into a hug. For a moment he tensed, and she thought she had messed up but after a second he melted into her embrace, he was small enough that his head fit perfectly on her collar. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s perfect, thank you Peter. One thing though,” she gently pushed him far away enough that she could place her hands on his face and ensure he looked her in the eyes, “You are the only person I want to spend my day with today, okay? So, go get dressed and meet me in the garage, we’re going to make a day of it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The soft giggles that earned her made all of it worth it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Alright then so she cared for the child a little bit, she just didn’t know how much yet.</em>
</p><p>“He was so nervous on that day; I never would have guessed someone would do that for me. We decided that night on the car ride home that 20<sup>th</sup> June would be our day. He wanted it to be all for me, was worried it becoming ‘ours’ would take it away from me, it took me half an hour to convince him that sharing it with him was what made it so special. It was that day our little family started, and I didn’t realise it, for so long I thought ‘Okay so he’ll become Stark’s kid and we’ll be there in the background’ I never for one moment thought he’d become my kid. I was right, caring for him would bring me pain but I wouldn’t change it for anything. We better bring him home in time because I’m not celebrating that day without him.”</p><p>“Hey, Nat, it’s only April, we have time. You heard Stark it should only take three to four days to get him.”</p><p>“It’s Hydra James, I want to believe it, but anything could go wrong. So, if we’re reminiscing, when did you realise?”</p><p>“Alright then I’ll tell.”</p><p>
  <em>Bucky came to the tower four months later than everyone else, Steve finally managed to drag him in. He recognised mostly everyone but there was one person who at first glance he had no recognition of. A pair of brown doe eyes turned to look at him, fear clear in them, he was clearly a child. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“H-hi! I’m Peter Parker!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Bucky could hear Steve chuckle next to him before he walked over to the child and nudged him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kid, he has no idea who Peter Parker is, you know this. He hasn’t met Peter before.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“O-oh I – I forgot that. Sorry! Hi Mr White Wolf Sir I’m Spider-Man!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wait, the child in front of him was Spider-Man, the person he tried to punch, the person Sam had flung out of a window. Spider-Man was a child? He didn’t get time to ask Spide- Peter, any questions as Stark came upstairs to drag him back down to the lab. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Stevie? I tried to punch a child.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All that earned him was a chuckle from his friend as he directed him to where he would be staying from now on and he didn’t see the Spider-Child for two days. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Then he woke up at around 2am and Friday directed him to the communal kitchen, seeing as he didn’t have one on his own floor yet. He still couldn’t believe Stark had given him his own floor. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Making his way down he could hear two voices, one was Natalia he recognised her voice, the other was only a little familiar meaning Peter, which was then revealed by Natalia herself before he walked in. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You need to sleep Peter.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I tried, it didn’t work, anyway I’ve got work I can do now and get ahead with it so it’s okay.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, it isn’t okay, growing boy’s need their sleep,” that was when Bucky walked through the door behind Natalia, “Isn’t that right James?” She said before turning around to see him smirking, “You can’t sleep either? What am I going to do with you boys? Sit down and I’ll make you a hot chocolate while I make Peter another one. Then you’re going back to bed!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Excuse me? Mr Wolf?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s Bucky, kid.” He said turning to look at Peter. If it was possible, he looked so much younger right now then he had the first time he saw him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, good luck with that James, he hasn’t dropped the Miss/Mr thing with any of us yet, it’s driving Wanda crazy seeing as she’s only a few years older than him.” Natalia smiled at Peter before sliding his cup in front of him before passing Bucky his, her hand ruffling his curls as she came around to sit next to him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, yeah whatever. Anyway! Mr Wolf? I’m sorry I grabbed your hand when he fought. I hope I didn’t upset you in any way.” Hearing that Bucky’s gaze snapped to Nat, thankful that Peter didn’t notice too busy staring down at his drink, looking at him she softly tilted her head at him, be gentle. Got it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Pete, you didn’t hurt me at all don’t worry about it. I should be the one apologising to you for trying to hit you, all you did was prevent me hurting you, you don’t have to be sorry about that.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Watching as those doe eyes turned to look at him again, he let a small smile grace his features, he didn’t know why but he felt the urge to just protect. The smile he was graced with made his worries wash away as happiness spread into those Bambi eyes and Peter held his hand out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Truce?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Which he couldn’t help but chuckle at. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Sure kid.”</em>
</p><p>“He should have been scared of me. But he wasn’t, he was so warm and open, and I knew instantly that this kid was going to be something, I just didn’t think he would mean this much. I didn’t think me, and you were going to become parental figures to a fifteen-year-old genius mutant with spider abilities.”</p><p>Natasha laughed before placing her head onto his shoulder, to which he kissed her head, and he leant his head on hers.</p><p>“We’ll bring him home Nat, I can promise you that.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm not going to lie I'm not confident about the 20th June being the first day of summer. Is it? Everywhere I looked it said either the 20th or the 21st and I prefer the number 20 so I went with that one so if I'm wrong please tell me. I've been trying to think of one shots I could do after this but then I wasn't sure if anyone would want to read them. But if you would and have any ideas you would want me to try please do let me know! Oh also I'm never quite sure how to go into a flashback/memory so if it seems really stilted I apologise! Any advice on how to get better? Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read and I hope you have a good day!! X</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a bit of a filler chapter from Wanda's POV, this is basically more memories of Peter and I apologise for still not knowing how to write them aha. I feel like this chapter is really bad so I'm sorry for that!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Going back down to the communal floor in the morning it was clear that Bucky’s plan for them to all get sleep to be prepared for today hadn’t gone the way he had initially intended, and it made Wanda smile. She understood that last night was not the best time to go looking, but she also knew that all of them, including Bucky himself, wanted to set off right then and there.</p><p>They were ready to go now, Stark had the Quinjet ready and they were just all getting ready, making sure they had everything they would need. Wanda kept trying to reach Peter, kept trying to get to his mind to speak to him but he wasn’t letting her, he wasn’t allowing her in, and it hurt, he believed what they had told him. Strucker was supposed to be dead, they were all aware of that, but she wasn’t surprised that somehow, he wasn’t. She feared him once, but now? Now that he’d laid his hands on Peter there was no fear there anymore, just hatred. This time, Wanda was going to make sure he was dead.</p><p>She was one of the first ones on the jet, Bucky and Natasha being the ones there first, when Bucky saw her enter, he smiled towards her then turned back to Nat. Wanda couldn’t imagine the pain Natasha was in right now, yes she saw Peter as her brother and it killed her that he was hurting but she knew Nat had been holding onto the hope that he would just come home, that he’d turn up one day and ask for help. She never allowed herself to hope before Peter came around.</p><p>Trying again to connect with Peter she tried her best to just push through one message, <em>we’re coming</em>, Wanda just hoped he was listening. Eventually the rest of the team piled onto the jet, even Bruce reluctantly walked up following behind Tony. She knew from experience this probably meant Tony was trying to persuade him to come with them, so she decided to take pity on the man who looked absolutely terrified.</p><p>“You okay Bruce?” Her question was what finally got Natasha to turn around, she too looked towards Bruce. They all knew that despite the communication between Bruce and the Hulk was getting better that Bruce was still scared of him.</p><p>“I – yes? No? I don’t know I know why I’m needed so I can smash through anything in the way, but Peter is probably already scared enough without seeing me.” Why would he think Peter would be scared of him? Wait, the letter. Quickly Wanda turned back to Natasha and accessed her mind, <em>Tell him about the first letter.</em> Natasha nodded at her before turning back to him.</p><p>“Bruce you remember the first letter Peter left?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Here.” Wanda didn’t know Natasha had kept it on herself since she got it, but she passed it to Bruce. “Peter doesn’t think you’re a monster, he was never afraid of you and he won’t be now. If he does show fear it won’t be because of you, it’s all on them. Give it back to me when you’re done.” With that she walked back to the front, “Everyone get ready I’m setting off!” She yelled back to the team.</p><p>Bruce sat down next to Wanda, the letter gripped in his hand, she could see that what Peter said had got to him, no one had ever called the Hulk nice before, but then again Peter wasn’t wrong.</p><p>“Peter’s right you aren’t a monster Bruce.” She whispered to him, he slowly got up, making sure Natasha had levelled the jet before walking to her to give her the letter back before coming back to sit down next to Wanda. “Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>“No not really, I knew he was a good kid. I just – I guess I underestimated it, he was running from all of this and one of his main concerns was that I live my life. You know I remember when I first met him.”</p><p>
  <em>Bruce had been back a few days now, Thor not staying after dropping him off, going god knows where. When the lab doors opened he heard Tony’s voice, and normally the man spoke to himself but not like this which was what made him turn around. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Right here you will see Brucie-Bear, Underoos meet Bruce, Bruce meet Peter.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hello there it’s nice to - “ </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Omg Mr Stark! It’s him! It’s him Mr Stark!” The boy, Peter, looked at him with such wide eyes. How old was he?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes, Peter I know I literally just told you that.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hello Peter, before you ask yes, I am the Hulk.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Huh? I mean yeah, I know that, but I’ve read so many of your papers! Did you know your picture is up at our school, you’re a genius! You know so much even my teacher acts like a fanboy over you, not that I can blame him you’re so cool!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Peter’s words caused Bruce to feel as though he would tear up, and a quick glance at Tony ensured Bruce that Tony was aware of it, but unlike how he would usually make some kind of comment about it he just looked back at Peter as if this was just how it was. Bruce knew then that Peter was someone the team needed to keep. </em>
</p><p>“He was so happy about meeting me, he followed me around the whole day after constantly asking me anything he could think of, when he finally got his voice back, then when he had to go back to his apartment, he actually apologised for it. Told me he was sorry for being a bother, I remember just telling him it was refreshing having someone want to talk to me for me and not to learn all about the Hulk. Looking back this idea’s been in his head from the very beginning hasn’t it, this feeling of not belonging, of being annoying. How did we not see it?” Bruce asked her.</p><p>“I think because that’s how we knew him, it’s how he’s acted since day one. How would we know any different? But I think his Aunt May is the reason for that, you remember what Nat and Buck told us about what she said, there’s no way she just turned horrible one day, there had to have been something underlying all these years. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the root of his confidence issues. I mean I’m not saying she’s been outright awful Peter’s entire life but with what she told Nat and Bucky, that resentment didn’t grow in a few months.”</p><p>“I just I wish he felt like he could have told us.” Bruce whispered, looking at him Wanda didn’t know what to do. She felt exactly the same and she had no answers for him, she didn’t know why he didn’t speak to them, no one on this jet did. She couldn’t make this better, but he shared his story so maybe she should share hers?</p><p>“I remember when I first met Peter too.” She whispered back at him, causing him to look back at her.</p><p>
  <em>She didn’t want to be here; she didn’t belong here Wanda knew that. She had hurt all of them and yet here they were giving her a home, a home without Pietro, the loss of him still felt heavy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They had brought her up to the communal floor while Stark got her floor ready and Wanda wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, the others had left and she just sat on the sofa silently, not knowing what to do or where to go. That was when she heard movement and turned around but there wasn’t anyone there, the shuffling sound continued though so she followed it, her eyes glowing red. Wanda wasn’t going to allow an invader in her new home, especially not with everything the team had done for her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wanda reached out with her powers to sense the other person and the moment she reached their mind she heard a crash. Turning around, there was a young boy sprawled out on the floor, clearly falling from somewhere. She couldn’t contain the laugh at seeing him like that, making it pretty clear he wasn’t a threat, his wide eyes staring back at her, how young is he?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Who are you?” She asked him, holding out a hand to help him, a smile gracing her features. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I – I’m – Well – Sorry hi, I’m Peter Parker.” The child – Peter, managed to get out. He looked afraid, at what she wasn’t sure. Was it her? Is she scaring him? It would make sense, there’s a high chance he recognised her, especially after she just used her powers on him, but she still wanted to know where he had fallen from.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Are you okay?” That fall must have hurt, looking at him he didn’t seem to be in much pain, but that thud sounded painful. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I – Yeah I’m fine, I’m really sorry.” He mumbled; his shoes seemed much more interesting than her. Wanda wasn’t sure how to comfort him so she just asked him what she wanted to know, maybe asking him questions will get him out of his head. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where did you fall from?” Her question clearly confused him, his head shot up to look at her, his eyebrows scrunching together.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I fell from the ceiling?” What? How did he fall from the – No how did he get on the ceiling?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The ceiling?” Her confusion clearly confused him even further, was she missing something.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh! Oh wait! Sorry I’m Spider-Man, I got bit by a spider and it made me sticky, I climbed up the ceiling. I didn’t see you there though I’m sorry, when you reached out it freaked me out because Mr Stark says I need to be aware of my surroundings and stop crawling across the ceiling when other people are here, please don’t tell him!” Peter rambled, he was younger than her that was clear, and she wanted him to feel safe. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t worry, I won’t say a thing. I’m sorry about trying to get into your mind, I shouldn’t have done that I just thought –“ </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s okay! It was actually really cool, could you maybe show me what else you can do? Only if you’re comfortable with it of course!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You – Why aren’t you scared of me?” Hasn’t Stark warned him of her? Of course, he would have right, he wouldn’t want a child around her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Should I be?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve done a lot of bad things Peter, I’ve hurt people, a lot of people.” He continued to just stare at her with wide eyes, innocence shining through them. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A lot of people have done bad things, half the people on this team have. But they’re better now, the fact you came back with them means you want to be better to. Wanting to be better, in my opinion, already means that you are. So, I’m not afraid of you, because I know I don’t have to be, you wouldn’t hurt me, not intentionally at least. Do you want to watch a movie?” Peter asked her before walking away to the living room turning on the TV, turning back to look at her. </em>
</p><p>“Peter was the one who made me realise that I could belong here with all of you, he made me realise that I could be better, and I could do good. I just wish I had done the same thing for him, I thought I had but apparently not.” Wanda sighed, “When we get him back I’m going to do my absolute best to do that this time, I know Natasha and Bucky will, maybe he’ll believe us this time.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed that. Do you have any ideas for what I could write after this is finished? Either connected to this story or not either is fine. Any advice at all? Thank you for reading! X</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi, I don't love this chapter but I've had a headache all day and I just wanted to get it out on time so I hope it doesn't suck too much x</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Landing the plain Natasha doesn’t think she’s ever heard such silence when the whole team was together, especially not on missions. Then again this isn’t a normal mission. Don’t get her wrong the jet isn’t silent, the team are speaking amongst themselves but normally, mainly Stark or Sam, can’t sit quiet and right now part of her wishes they wouldn’t be, wishes they would speak up the way they normally would, but she understands why they aren’t. They need to get this right.</p><p>As much as Natasha wanted to barge in there and kill each person holding Peter one by one, she also knows that if she is the one to find Peter then she’s taking him out of that building without looking back, her hatred of those people was outweighed largely by her desire to make sure Peter is safe. Natasha also knows that Peter hates when they kill people, even when they deserve it, he’s seen enough death in his life he doesn’t ever want to add more, so when it comes down to it, she doesn’t care what happens to those people as long as Peter is no longer with them. There was only two men she wanted dead by the end, Osborn and Strucker, Osborn for dragging Peter into this hell and Strucker because well that’s obvious. He was the one to cut Peter open to ‘see what would happen’, that man she wants to kill and watch with her own eyes, to make sure he’s gone.</p><p>Did Peter hear them land?</p><p>Walking out of the jet, the team was greeted by a notice board. A notice board that held a message Natasha loathed, if only she had brought her lighter with her.</p><p>
  <em>Welcome Avengers, it’s time to split up into two teams, (No you don’t get to pick your teams I’ve picked them for you) we’re watching your every move from every angle, I don’t think you would want Petey here to be hurt because you couldn’t just go into the groups that we’ve picked now do you? Unless of course you don’t care about him, not that I’d blame you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You see we asked Petey here what his favourite game was as a child, he said it was Hide and Seek, did you know that? We were going to set this up as a whole game but well this game started before I even got my hands on him didn’t he, he was hiding and you were seeking, I guess we’re about to see if you’re any good at this game, I don’t have much faith with the fact that you’ve been losing so far, you have two days to find him here, we won’t move for 48 hours but once that’s over if you haven’t found us then we move again. The prize of the game is simple, whoever wins this game gets to keep Spidey. </em>
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  <em>So lets get to the teams. Team A will consist of Stark, Sam, Scott, Thor and Clint. Team B will consist of Natasha, Bucky, Wanda, Bruce and Steve. Ready? Go.</em>
</p><p>“Okay so, we may have said splitting up was a bad idea when we planned this, but you know groups of five is better than just two people and as much as I don’t want to listen to what this person has told us to do, but I don’t want Peter to get hurt even more and so I guess we’re Team A.” Stark rambled out.</p><p>“Splitting up into two different groups has its pros and cons. The group who finds him first activate your comms to connect to the other team straight away, there will probably be guards in every building so do what you need to do to get through them as fast as you can. No matter how.” Natasha, pointed out, “We have a time limit so no more chatting, split into your groups and lets go, you guys take the left and we’ll take the right.”</p><p>When she finished speaking Natasha didn’t wait for a response, her and Bucky began to walk straight away knowing their team would follow.</p><p>“Does anyone know how many buildings there actually are? Or which buildings have people in, and which don’t, you know so we don’t waste time going into the empty buildings?” Wanda questioned from behind them.</p><p>Natasha began to pull the scanning device Tony had given her from her pocket, “Tony made this, it will detect which buildings have heat signatures and which don’t, it might be a waste of time but if there’s even one person in a building we’re checking. They may have left Peter on his own somewhere, then again they may have him in a building with the most people, so we have to check all of them.” Scanning the building in front of them the former happened, the scanner picked up only one person, so Natasha nodded at James who kicked the door down and she walked in. There in the middle of the room was one of Hydra’s men.</p><p>“Where is he?” She demanded, pointing her gun at his head.</p><p>To which the man chuckled at them, “I’m not here to tell you, tik-tok Widow you’re on a timer.” The moment he finished speaking a gun shot rung out, Natasha watched as he slumped on the floor before lowering her gun back down, he was a waste of a bullet, but she also wasn’t willing to let anyone walk away if she could stop it.</p><p>This continued for around seven hours, some buildings holding no one, some holding very few and some holding a large number of them. They were tired that’s for sure, time was running out, they had taken small breaks but nothing for than ten minutes. It was weird, for once Hydra wasn’t coming out to fight them, they were waiting for them to come in to fight. They haven’t heard a word from the other team, that in itself wasn’t comforting, as much as Natasha wanted to be the one to find him, wanted to finally see him she also just wanted him out, if that meant she didn’t see him until she got back the jet then fine. Natasha just wanted to get him out of here.</p><p>That was when they walked upon a building, one that was much different to the ones they had already searched. It was smaller and a lot older, something you wouldn’t expect anyone to be inside, but the scanner picked up on many heat signatures in there, not the largest they’d seen today but enough.</p><p>Looking to James next to her she knew they were on the same page, something about this building seemed off, it felt like a building you normally see thinking nothing about it, a building which is typically ignored while it holds something inside. Natasha and Bucky had seen enough of them from their own time with Hydra, from the way Wanda stiffened behind her it seemed she did too. This building was hiding something but is it Peter or something else.</p><p>Before Bucky even had chance to kick the door down, Wanda’s eyes lit up red and she ripped the door off to which James just looked at her.</p><p>“You couldn’t have done that this entire time?”</p><p>“You looked like you were having fun, so I just left you to it.” Wanda responded before she walked through the gap left. Natasha following behind her.</p><p>Like in the buildings before, Natasha, Wanda and James took the upper floors while Steve and the Hulk, who was surprisingly following their instructions a lot better than any of them thought, once again showing how Peter affected the team in the best way, would take the lower floors.</p><p>Wanda focused on, well throwing people out of her way and getting rid of as many as she could on the left side of the upper floors while Natasha and Bucky focused on the right side. The two of them moved in sync with one another, years upon years of working together bleeding into this moment, there was no communication between the two of them, yet they already knew what the other was about to do before they even did it.</p><p>It was this which made them the perfect partners, made it so much easier to fight through the group of Hydra men trying to kill them. The thing is the two of them fought with all they had on a normal mission, so what made these men think they would win when Peter was at risk. Natasha heard James shoot the last man on his side while she electrocuted hers, using the knives Peter had created for her, she loved to remind Stark how much better they were than what he made her but right now was no time for jokes. They had removed all of the ones on their side, but Wanda’s lack of communication made it clear she wasn’t in the same position.</p><p>“Wanda how’s your side looking?” Natasha asked her through the comms, “Ours side is now clear.”</p><p>“I could use some help, there’s not too many men but I’ve used my powers more today than I have in a long time, I’m feeling a little drained.”</p><p>James looked at her before nodding, “I’ll make my way there.” He looked back at Natasha before leaving, “Go get our kid Natalia.”</p><p>Walking towards the door in front of her, her scanner picked up only two heat signatures and the door was already cracked open slightly, well at least she didn’t need to call James back to come kick it open.</p><p>The room was darker than the rest, not dark enough that you couldn’t see anything, but dark enough that the spotlight illuminating the table at the end of the room that much brighter. Making Strucker’s grin look much more sinister, the bloody knife in his hand glistening. Making Peter look that much paler.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So in an earlier chapter (I don't remember which one and I'm too tired to go looking so I apologise for my laziness on that) Maybemarvel put forward that it seemed like a game of hide and seek and I really liked that idea so I put it in. Hope that didn't suck. Any advice? Any ideas on things you want me to write? Thank you for your time x</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm updating late again? I think, sorry my days are really muddled recently. I really don't know if this story is any good, I mean I'm certainly not the best writer and I really want to get better but I don't know if this story is any good at all, sorry for that just feeling conflicted. I feel this could be so much better but I don't have the ability in my brain to make it that way. More importantly, if the Russian is wrong please do feel free to yell at me the corrections.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There in front of her was Peter. Peter strapped to a table, bloodied, broken, cut open, alive but not conscious. Behind him, Strucker, the monster torturing, the monster Natasha was going to end.</p><p>“Well, well, well I see you found him before the forty-eight timer ran out! Good job there Widow, I’m impressed I was hoping I’d be able to keep our little friend Spidey here, you see I haven’t found out makes him tic just yet. We were trying to find out the Avengers secrets but no matter how far we dug, no matter how badly we hurt him he wouldn’t spill. He’s one tough spider I’ll give him that.” He cackled at her, knife twirling in his hand, far too closely to Peter as she would like it to be.</p><p>“Alright, well we played your twisted little game, unlock the restraints on him so I can take him home, that was the point of the game.” Natasha reminded him, “So let him go.”</p><p>“You were much quicker than I had anticipated I’m not going to lie.” Strucker continued on, “I’m surprised I thought we would be able to keep him, well anyway. I will let him out in just a second but first a little story on what went on so you know what to expect when he opens his eyes. First of all, we convinced him, almost completely I would like to add, that you were never coming, that no one cares about him so if it’s not true good luck with fixing that one. Second of all well look at him, we cut him open, quite a bit really. I just wanted to see how quickly his body fixed itself and well he’s been starving for a month now at least so it’s quite slow as you can see, he might be dying right now actually? I’m not too sure and – “</p><p>“Unlock him. Now.” Natasha demanded.</p><p>“Won’t even let a guy finish his story, fine.” He placed his knife down next to Peter and grabbed the keys from the table next to him. “You’re going home Itsy Bitsy, sadly the game is over and our time together is up.” He whispered into Peter’s ear as he unlocked the cuffs attaching him to the table.</p><p>The moment Peter was no longer strapped down to the table Natasha lifted her gun and shot Strucker between his eyes, he’d gotten away once he wasn’t getting away again. Racing forward to Peter she saw that the gun shot had woken him, not enough to be fully conscious but enough to know he wasn’t alone.</p><p>“Hey sweetie.” Natasha moved her hand to run it through his tangled curls, “It’s me, Tasha. I’m here to take you back home now Petya, let me just see if I can find something to cover your torso with.”</p><p>Looking around the room, in the corner was one of Peter’s tops. The top Peter had left the tower in that day, it was torn and tainted with Peter’s own blood, but it was the only thing in the room she could find to cover him with, once she had him on the jet she could get him in something better. Pacing back to the table Natasha gently lifted him into a sitting position, the whimper Peter let out indicating just how much pain he was in, he hated showing his pain to anyone.</p><p>Pressing the comm in her ear she made sure she was connected to both teams before saying, “I’ve got Peter, he’s in a really bad condition, so either we all head back and leave Hydra or I go back to the jet with whoever can come with, or even by myself, and Stark you signal to the tower to send another jet for when you’re finished.”</p><p>“Get to the jet Nat, we’ll finish this. Stark contact Helen Cho to be ready at the tower.” Steve radioed back to her, with everyone else agreeing, right now Peter couldn’t wait for everyone to finish up, he needed medical attention as soon as possible.</p><p>At the confirmation she slowly began to gather Peter in her arms, she could lift him before he left, something to do with the spider bite making him lighter, basically science none of them really understood. But right now? He was lighter than he had ever been a clear indication of just how malnourished he really was, other than the sharpness of his bones she could feel through his skin. When she finally lifted his eyes slowly lifted open to look at her.</p><p>“Мама? Что? Что Вы здесь делаете? Это опасно?” (Mom? What? What are you doing here? It's not safe?) He slurred, still quite out of it.</p><p>“Эй, дорогая, все в порядке, что я довехаю тебя до дома. С тобой все будет в порядке.” (Hey, darling, it's all right I'm taking you home. You'll be fine.) Natasha whispered back at him, careful to not aggravate his senses. She was quite shocked that he was speaking to her in Russian, as much as she had taught him it, he would usually only speak it if she started speaking it first. But at least he was speaking.</p><p>Getting back to the jet was easier than getting to the building Peter had been hidden in, since they’d either killed or knocked unconscious any Hydra agents on their way, meaning none were there to stop her. Once she was on board she made sure to close the door behind her so no one else could enter, the team had controls to board if needs be, and she focused on getting Peter into something cleaner. Natasha grabbed a pair of spare clothes they kept on the jet for missions, they had luckily though ahead and brought some of Peter’s in case of this, she grabbed his largest jumper and a pair of joggers, making sure they were both soft and loose to prevent them hurting his wounds.</p><p>Peter had fallen unconscious on the way back to jet and she ensure he was comfortable on one of the medical cots they had on the jet before setting off, putting it into autopilot on route to the tower before going back to Peter, making sure to grab a blanket on the way. When Natasha was walking back with him her fears were confirmed, Peter was cold, too cold, she knew he couldn’t control his temperature and right now she wasn’t sure if him being unconscious was due to him being drained from his injuries or if he had gone into hibernation, because that’s something he could do apparently. She hoped it wasn’t that.</p><p>Natasha picked up the thickest blanket they had on the jet and wrapped Peter up in it before slowly pulling him in until he was tucked up next to her body, so she could hold him. He was here in front of her but that doesn’t mean she was going to let him go, not yet at least she needed to feel that he was here with her. She had also made sure to have some of the pain killers that were made specifically for Peter on her person and now that he was in a comfortable position, she rolled up his sleeve enough so that she could inject it into his arm, for the first time she had found him she was glad he wasn’t fully conscious, Peter despised needles.</p><p>The medicine wouldn’t be enough for his body to start healing itself, Peter was way too malnourished for that, but it would be enough for the pain he was certainly feeling to fade away for a little while until they were at the tower and Helen could start helping him. As well as finally getting some much-needed food back into him.</p><p>The sight of Peter on that table, the wounds surrounding him and his ribs being so prominent under his skin, she knew would haunt her forever. From the moment Peter had found his way into her heart, before that even, she knew no matter what she wouldn’t let the kid get hurt. She had failed. He was hurt, he’d been hurt, from someone they had been against before, from someone they had naively thought was dead. That was now dead.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When the jet landed, Natasha once again lifted Peter into her arms, when she exited there waiting for her was Cho and some of Starks other trusted doctors with a table to wheel Peter into medical with. Slowly placing Peter onto the table, Natasha rushed into the tower alongside it explaining to Cho everything she knew about his injuries, everything that Strucker had said before she had shot him in the head.</p><p>As they got to medical Cho slowed down pulling Natasha to a stop as the other doctors rushed Peter in.</p><p>“I know you want to go in there Natasha, but you need to stay out here, the moment we’re finished I will come get you and you can come sit with him.” Cho demanded.</p><p>“But – “</p><p>“Let us do our jobs Natasha. I promise you I will do everything I can to make him better, trust me please, you being in there won’t help.”</p><p>“Fine. Okay, I’ll stay here.” Natasha finally relented and watched as Cho raced through the doors and preparing to perform the surgery Peter would need while also making sure to make note of every problem and injury she found on him as she did so.</p><p>Natasha trusted her with Peter, she truly did. Just the thought of Peter in there alone, without her to hold his hand in case he woke up, woke up afraid, killed her. She hoped her teammates were out there removing every Hydra agent they could get their hands on, but no part of her wanted to be out there with them, she was exactly where she needed, and wanted to be, with Peter.</p><p>Part of what Strucker had said before she had killed him did eat away at her though, that they had been capable of convincing Peter that the Avengers didn’t care about him, from the way Peter reacted when he saw her almost convinced her otherwise. She knew though how it felt when you saw someone who wouldn’t hurt you after enduring torture like Peter had, the relief of it removed everything else in that moment, there was a high chance of when he woke up again that he would be closed off, scared. Scared that what they had told him was true, the way May had spoken of him confirmed to her that he’d been hearing it before he was captured, hearing it from someone he loved made it much easier for Hydra to manipulate it into your mind. Especially after over a month of isolation.</p><p>Natasha wasn’t sure how she was going to fix this, how she was going to help Peter, but she most certainly wasn’t going to leave him, she hadn’t known how she was going to react when she found him, everything she did felt like she was autopilot, maybe she would feel the same with this. Natasha didn’t need to worry about how she would help Peter but focus on actually helping him, she knew James would be right by her side. They hadn’t expected this, hadn’t thought they would be seen as parents by a fifteen-year-old with spider abilities, but she knew that neither of them would trade this for anything, they hadn’t expected to gain a son out of Peter, but they also weren’t willing to let him go now that they had.</p><p>Did Peter still see them that way? Did he still see her as a mother? Of James as a father? Of Wanda as a sister? Maybe despite all of his reassurances that he had to do it on his own, that he didn’t want them looking for him, all of this time he had been waiting for them to come to him, to scoop him up and tell him it would all be okay.</p><p>Would he want to stay with them after everything?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Should I continue with this story? I really don't know aha. If you have any ideas on what else I could write please do feel free to tell me as I'm not too sure what else to do, or if I should even do anything else. Any advice on how I can get better because I think I really need it. Thank you for reading.</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! Sorry for the little sadness that I wrote above the last chapter, life is a bit stressful recently and I think everything just got a bit too much and I thought not writing this would help but then it did so I was being silly! I hope you enjoy x</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Peter had been in surgery for two hours when the team came running into medical. Natasha had been sat in one of the waiting chairs the entire time, she knew she needed to go and clean up but there was absolutely no way she was going to leave Peter on her own. If he woke up and no one was there then what Strucker had told him about no one caring about him would just sink in further, she needed to be here when he woke up.</p><p>“Nat, how long has he been in surgery?” Bucky asked her, sitting in the chair beside her.</p><p>“For about two hours now, there’s been no news, no nothing. I don’t want to leave him alone so could you stay here so I can quickly go clean up? The moment I come back you can leave but I don’t want to look like this when he wakes up you know?” She whispered to him.</p><p>“Yeah of course, you go sort yourself out I’m not leaving him don’t worry, if something happens while you’re gone then I’ll make sure to get Friday to tell you instantly. Don’t worry he won’t be alone.” James once again placed a kiss on her head before she ran off to get out of the clothes she had worn to the mission.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>While in her room she made sure to be quick, of course she made sure she had done everything she needed to do, washed off all of the dirt and blood she had collected in the fight. Normally it wouldn’t bother her, she’d been in worst states than this one, but she knew that Peter would freak out at the blood which had covered her, would have feared that she was hurt, and right now he didn’t need any more fear than he already would feel when he woke up.</p><p>Natasha picked the jumper from her closet, the one Peter had complimented, even stolen multiple times because ‘It’s just so soft Tasha.’ Maybe wearing it will remind him of the peace he felt here once. She put on a random pair of jeans before making her way back down, knowing it was James’ turn to go get sorted now, so she sat back down in her chair while he went off. The rest of the team had either also gone to clean up or were off doing something else entirely and if she was completely honest, she didn’t really care, she is right where she needs to be and right now that’s all that mattered. The moment she was allowed into that room she wasn’t leaving him, not unless he wanted her out, she just didn’t want Peter to wake up alone, she needed him to not wake up alone.</p><p>Eventually Wanda walked in, sitting down on the chair next to Natasha, the one opposite to the one James had sat himself in. Natasha knew Wanda loved Peter, after the death of Pietro Wanda had become so much like a broken doll, she knew there were other factors affecting Wanda, but the death of her brother was what truly broke her. She had gotten better, in the year before the teams little, extremely embarrassing, argument which led to the fighting at an airport. Yes, Natasha was still embarrassed by that. But in that year Wanda had grown, she became more comfortable with all of them, but it wasn’t until Peter joined the team that she completely opened up, Natasha knew at first Wanda felt guilty for seeing Peter as her brother, believing that she was replacing Pietro.</p><p>Eventually though she began to realise that loving Peter as her little brother wasn’t replacing Pietro and when she accepted it, when she let Peter in completely the team had never seen Wanda so happy. Natasha knows that even now she feels guilt over it, but not because she felt she was replacing Pietro, but because she wishes that her brothers could have actually known one another, without ever personally knowing Pietro Natasha knows that the two of them would have gotten along extremely well.</p><p>Natasha turned to look at Wanda and just saw her staring at the door Peter had gone through.</p><p>“Can you feel him?” At her words Wanda swirled around to look at her, clear confusion etched on her face. “You told me while he was at the tower you could feel his pain, I was wondering now he’s back here can you feel him again?”</p><p>“I – No. I don’t know how but in some time during his abduction he blocked me out, I mean I can still sense that he’s there, but I can’t actually feel him, I can’t reach him. Does that make sense?” Wanda spoke to her, looking back at the door.</p><p>Natasha can imagine this disconnect is breaking Wanda, she knew the two of them liked to speak to each other telepathically. They would be in a room with the whole team and without even making a sound Peter and Wanda would be having a whole conversation in their minds, despite not having that power herself Natasha was pretty good at reading Peter, or well she thought that she was.</p><p>“When do you think he’s going to wake up Nat?” Wanda whispered into the air, the silence suffocating them.</p><p>“If I’m honest, I have no idea. You didn’t see him but Wanda he’s in bad shape.” Natasha continued to stare ahead as Wanda looked at her, “He has a lot of wounds but not only that he’s extremely malnourished. I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish the surgery and he sleeps for a day. From the way he was looking, I wouldn’t blame him.”</p><p>When she had finished speaking James walked back around the corner, looking to Natasha but then glancing to Wanda, concern on his face.</p><p>“Wanda you really should go to bed.” James told her. Natasha doubted Wanda was actually going to listen to him.</p><p>“No, I’m staying here.” Ah, she was right. But James wasn’t wrong, out of everyone involved in the mission, other than Peter himself, Wanda was the one who needed to go rest.</p><p>“He’s right Wanda. No, you glaring at me won’t change my mind.” That made Wanda slump back into her seat. “I know you want to be here, and we aren’t trying to get rid of you, but you used your powers a lot in that fight, more than you have in a while. I know you’re feeling drained, you said it yourself on the mission so don’t try and argue against that, but if you don’t rest at least a little then the moment Peter sees you he’s going to freak out over your health and then that’s going to freak you out and it’s going to spiral into a whole thing. So, please just rest for a little while.”</p><p>For a moment Wanda just stared at the two of them, until finally she sighed, “Fine I’ll go to bed. But the moment he wakes do you promise me that you’ll let Friday wake me?”</p><p>“Of course.” James and Natasha spoke in sync. The two of them watched as Wanda rounded the corner, the second she was gone Natasha slunk down into her chair and rested her head against James’ arm.</p><p>The silence which swallowed them this time wasn’t as bad, the fear for Peter was still there but James sitting with her made the panic diminish just a little. Natasha wouldn’t be alone no matter what the news was going to be. Three hours now, three hours of waiting for some kind of information from Cho or any of the doctors really, she just needed to know that he’s okay. The imagine of the way Peter looked when she found him in that room still haunts her every time she closes her eyes, she had tried to wash off the blood and the dirt that was on his face but she didn’t want to aggravate any wounds he had so she left it at that, as well as the fact that he was freezing and the only water she had on hand was cold.</p><p>Natasha wondered if that was purposeful, did Hydra know he couldn’t control his body temperature, that the spider bite made being cold dangerous, did they know? If they did know then it would make some sense, when Peter gets too cold, before he goes unconscious, it makes him sluggish meaning that he wouldn’t have been able to fight back against their experiments. That added to him being malnourished, the lack of food and the cold would have made him be in a zombie state, she noticed that herself when she picked him up, he spoke to her for a second before falling back unconscious.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They’d been sat there for another half an hour before Helen Cho finally came out, the moment Natasha and James saw them the two of them bolted out of their chairs, finally they were going to know something.</p><p>“Okay first of all I need to say that he’s stable, he’s going to be okay but there’s still problems. As you noticed he’s been starving, it looks like it started as soon as he left, he hasn’t been getting the right amount of food the entire time. Which is obviously is a problem, but we’ve got him on an IV now which will hopefully help but the moment he can eat he needs to get back on track quickly. Because of the lack of food his wounds haven’t healed themselves the way they normally would. The cuts on his body, I’m not too sure about, it seems they’ve been cut open more than once, which I’m guessing is because they wanted to see how long it would take to heal, but right now he’s healing the way a normal person would, so unless he gets enough food in him soon he will take a while to heal. As well as all of this we had to reset his right leg and his left shoulder, they had healed wrong after being broken so we had to fix that. The cold state he was in has also affected his healing factor, we knew it made Peter himself sluggish but apparently it also slows down how quick he heals, thankfully somehow it didn’t fall down to a really dangerous state but we still need to ensure he stays as warm as we can make him while he heals. He hasn’t yet woken up but I can imagine there’s going to be more problems when does wake up, but more psychological damage rather than physical, you can go sit with him now.” Cho listed off to them before walking off.</p><p>The moment she said they can sit with him Natasha set off, James following a step behind her, and when she finally got in the room she paused for a moment. There on the bed was Peter, he still looked rough but this time there wasn’t a man with a knife stood behind him, he was laid tucked up in what looks to be three blankets? He was also covered in bandages from the skin she could see, his left shoulder was wrapped entirely but his right still had bandages wrapped around it. Peter had more wounds than she had originally thought, the doctors had put him in shorts and a tank top apparently, they knew they needed to make him warm, but they also needed easy access to his wounds.</p><p>Finally, Natasha was able to walk forward and sit down in the chair next to Peter’s bed, James taking the one opposite. Grabbing Peter’s hand Natasha was happy to realise that he was getting warmer, his hand not feeling as cold as it was when she got him out of that room.</p><p>“He’s finally home Natalia, we did it.” James whispered to her, he had also grabbed Peter’s hand, despite speaking to her his eyes never left Peter.</p><p>Peter might finally be home but the nightmare wasn’t over.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I haven't had time to check this for mistakes so if there are any please do point them out, I'm just really tired aha. Feel free to comment anything I do love to read them and see what people think. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read this and if you have any advice on how I could get better please do tell me as I really want to get better at writing! Xx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, here's chapter 18 I hope you enjoy it! I think I'm going to stick to only updating twice a week for the rest of this fic (although I'm not exactly sure what days which I'm sorry for.) College has just been really stressful lately, and now that I'm back doing face to face lessons I don't have as much time to get things ready. Although I've written everything out now I do need to go back and make sure they don't suck too much. So sorry for the ramble, hope you enjoy!! X</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Getting comfortable in the chairs next to Peter’s bed Natasha remembered what she had promised Wanda.</p><p>“Friday, would you please contact Wanda and tell her we’re now able to sit with him but that he shows no sign of waking up anytime soon. Oh, also will you let her know when he wakes up please because chances are, I will forget.”</p><p>“Of course, Miss Romanoff.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>Looking at Peter he was just so pale, almost ghostly and with that idea she held his hand a little tighter. Peter is alive. Peter is in front of them. Peter is home. But if she was honest, she was too afraid to close her eyes in case when she woke up it was all a dream. Natasha was too busy convincing herself that Peter was actually finally in front of her that she missed the glances that James kept throwing her, well that was until he finally spoke up.</p><p>“Natalia, we have a problem.” That made her head shoot to him and then quickly look around the room, she’s been sat here the entire time, what problem could James even be speaking of?</p><p>“What? What do you mean we have a problem?”</p><p>“You know how you shot Strucker?” Natasha nodded her head at that, “Well on a good note he is finally dead, I went into the room after me and Wanda had finished on her side and he was just lying there. His body was taken into Shield though so if he isn’t they’ll find out but I’m almost completely sure that he is but I know that Hydra is annoyingly slippery so you never know. The problem we have though is that none of us got Norman Osborn, we couldn’t find him anywhere and that means that –“</p><p>“Peter isn’t safe.” She finished for him, turning to look back at Peter, when was this boy going to get a break.</p><p>“Yeah, Stark is on it though and the moment he finds him we can go get him. We can end him the way you ended Strucker, jail is too kind for the monsters.” James practically growled, the anger he feels clear in his eyes.</p><p>“I got Strucker, you get Osborn. It is his turn to be hunted, when you get him James make sure he knows he isn’t getting out of it alive. I want him to know he’s going to die. Strucker may have been the one who physically harmed Peter the most, Norman is the one who threatened him, made him run, taunted him and then handed him over to be experimented on.” James just nodded back to her, going to look out of the window, the hatred swirling in him clear.</p><p>Natasha hated that man only slightly less than Strucker, only because of the physical wounds that he had afflicted on Peter. She was able to get rid of him, she was able to watch the life go out in the eyes of a man who had harmed her child, James had not. It was moments like these when she truly didn’t understand why Peter chose the two of them, he hated violence, hated death yet picked the two adults who didn’t blink an eye at it. Normally that brought her some feeling of guilt, knew Peter was right when he talked about containing them rather than killing them but the men who had taken Peter, she felt no guilt over their deaths, no remorse at all.</p><p>Eventually James decided to leave, reluctantly which was obvious with how he lingered around Peter, fussing over every little thing but he had to go meet Stark, had to try and help find Osborn in anyway that he could. The silence which followed his exit was deafening, whenever she was alone with Peter there was always some kind of noise, whether it was Peter himself telling her about something or if they were just watching something together, there was always noise. Noise other than the sound of Peter’s heartbeat filling the room, Natasha was grateful she could hear it in a sense, she could see he is alive and she could hear it but she feared the sound would seize, that the noise of his heart stopping would fill the room, it was unlikely but she still feared it would happen.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sat there before he finally opened his eyes, her heart both broke and mended itself when those brown bambi eyes looked back at her. Healed because finally here he was, when she found him, he didn’t open his eyes wide enough or even long enough for her to see those eyes she had missed. Broke because the fear embedded in them hurt, so much fear, the moment his eyes met hers he quickly moved so as to not make eye contact. He seemed afraid of her.</p><p>“Hey sweetie, are you feeling okay?” To that she got a timid nod from him. “Do you need anything?” To that he shook his head.</p><p>Okay so he wouldn’t look at her and he wouldn’t speak to her. Why?</p><p>“I’m going to go get Helen okay.” She got nothing in response to that.</p><p>Leaving the room she composed herself, no matter how much his distance hurt she couldn’t show him, not now. He needed their help, not their sorrow. Walking to Cho Natasha tried to think of what to do, she expected him to be a little different, the poor boy was tortured and alone for a month he wasn’t going to be the bubbly kid that had left them. But this? She didn’t expect this. Didn’t expect the silence and the avoidance, the way he was avoiding eye contact hurt, he seemed even more insecure than the fourteen-year-old that met the whole team after the incident in Germany. After that though he still rambled at least, and made fleeting eye contact, this silence? This was something she had never seen.</p><p>“Helen?” The woman turned around at the sound of her name, her smile dropping at the sorrow Natasha tried so hard to hide.</p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p>“He’s awake.”</p><p>“Okay?”</p><p>“He won’t look at me, he won’t speak to me. I don’t know what to do Cho.” Natasha tried so hard not to break down. Friday must have told the team by now Peter had woken up, but also the rest of it, or else they would all be down here. But they aren’t, because that wouldn’t help.</p><p>“Alright well then we should go back to the room so I can do a check-up. I have to warn you now though I have to ask if he wants the check-up to happen with just me and him in the room, and if he’s as scared and uncomfortable as you say he is then he might say yes.”</p><p>The two women walked back to Peter’s room in complete silence, maybe Natasha was wrong, maybe Peter just woke up confused maybe when she walked back into the room he’s ramble to her once again and everything would be fine. Hoped that everything would be fine, maybe she had just read him wrong again.</p><p>Or not.</p><p>Walking into the room Natasha saw Peter had moved, he was not sat up but instead of staring at the opposite wall his eyes stayed looking down at his lap.</p><p>“Hello Peter, I’m sorry we’re meeting again in these circumstances.” Helen spoke to him as she walked around the bed to access her equipment. Peter just nodded. “So, I need to do a check-up now that you’re awake. Would you like Natasha to be in the room as this takes place?” Peter tensed for a moment, hesitating for a moment before slowly shaking his head.</p><p>Okay, so he doesn’t want her to be in the room with him. Cho’s eyes shot to her in sympathy, clearly understanding that Peter’s desire for her to leave hurt but she couldn’t let him know that. It hurt yes but if her not being in the room with him made him comfortable, while he was safe, she would deal with it.</p><p>“Alright then Peter, well I’ll be just outside if you need me.” All Natasha wanted to do was hug him, to run her hand through his curls like she used to and yet right now all she could do was leave the room. Leave the room and sit outside waiting, waiting for what she wasn’t sure, would he ever want her in the room?</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to start having a look at your injuries now, is that okay?” Peter wasn’t exactly sure why he couldn’t speak as he nodded at Helen, making sure he was continuing to look down at the blanket on his lap. The moment he had woken up he saw Natasha staring back at him and he felt the urge to turn away, when she spoke to him he couldn’t get the words to form and so he didn’t.</p><p>“Well, I think that the IV has been helping you, your injuries aren’t healing as quick as the usually would which is a slight problem but that’s due to the lack of food you’ve been having which I’m sure will soon be back on track. I think that it might be best for you to go back to your own room, if you would like. I’m sure that would be much more comfortable than this and we have the resources to ensure your wounds are taken care of there. Would you like that?”</p><p>Again, all he could do was nod.</p><p>“Peter, I don’t know if you aren’t speaking because you don’t wish to, or if you simply can’t right now and I know you’re unable to tell us. Obviously, you will need to see someone eventually, someone who can help you understand and come to terms with what has happened. Right now, though, I understand you were uncomfortable with Natasha in the room but would you like Wanda to come in, the two of you will be able to communicate telepathically, if that was something you wanted. Would that be okay?”</p><p>If Peter is completely honest, he didn’t think of that. Part of him wanted Tasha to come back in, wanted her to wrap him up in her arms so he could finally feel safe, but he couldn’t speak to her, he had turned away from her, he had her removed from the room. He didn’t deserve that hug. Would Wanda’s power’s work? Would he be able to communicate with her that way? Eventually he finally allowed himself to nod, giving Helen the permission to call for Wanda.</p><p>He wasn’t sure how long it took for Wanda to come running through the doors, there was no clock in this room, even if there was, he wouldn’t look up and he couldn’t ask. Peter made sure to avoid eye contact with her, it didn’t feel right after avoiding Tasha’s eyes, was Tasha outside like she said she’d be?</p><p>“Hey Pete, Helen told me you were having trouble speaking.” Wanda whispered as she sat down on the chair next to him, “She also said you were open to trying to speak to me telepathically? Are you still wanting to try?”</p><p>All he could do was nod, they had done this almost everyday before, before he had left. She’d stopped asking him for permission after a while, seeing as they had a link open at all times, she knew when she was allowed in without even having to ask. Peter had ruined that though hadn’t he? He’d abandoned her and then cut that link, blocking her out when she had tried to reach him, he had left her and severed all contact with her. At his nod Helen left the room saying over her shoulder that if they needed anything just to get Friday to notify her of it and she would be there as fast as she could.</p><p>“Okay then Pete, I know you severed the last link we had, which is alright. Are you comfortable with me going ahead and forming another one? If you remember I need to place my hands on your temples to form it, is that okay?” He nodded quicker to that question, the moment he had cut the last link, the moment he had he felt it, this emptiness. They weren’t using it at the time, seeing as he had blocked her but the moment the connection was lost, he felt cold for a moment, more alone than he had in a while.</p><p>So, the moment Wanda’s hands touched his temples, he did flinch at first the contact causing him to react, but after that he allowed himself to feel the warmth of Wanda’s powers seeping in, knowing it had worked. He decided to take the first step.</p><p>
  <em>“Hey Wanda.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hello Peter. I’ve missed you.”</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>It hurt, watching Wanda pass her to go into his room hurt. Peter wanted Wanda not her. Natasha understood it though, Wanda could communicate with him the way none of them could, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Wanda could help Peter while all she could do was sit outside of his room waiting for news once again, he didn’t want her sitting with, wouldn’t speak to her, wouldn’t even look at her. She would just have to wait. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed, if you have anything that you want to see then just let me know, I'm hoping to write one shots that are inside this story after I've finished this main one, would that be something you'd read? I think at the moment I've got three ideas but I would love for you to share any ideas you think would be fun to read and I'll do my best to make them the way you want them. Thank you for reading, I love to read comments so if you want to leave anything please do! Any advice?? X</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! Here's Chapter 19. This one was a little weird to write but I actually kind of like it so that you do too, but despite that still throw any criticism you have at me please, I would love to get better!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Hey Wanda.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hello Peter. I’ve missed you.”</em>
</p><p>Hearing Wanda’s voice in his head made Peter want to cry, finally a voice that wouldn’t bring him pain, not that Tasha would of course, but none of the voices he had heard while after leaving and being taken were like this. None of them could speak to him from inside his head. He was safe. He was home.</p><p>So why didn’t he <em>feel</em> it. Peter knew where he was, knew none of the people in this building would lay a hand upon him that he didn’t want yet he was still waiting for the trick, for them to pull back the curtain and for him to be back on that table being experimented on.</p><p>
  <em>“Helen told me that it’s possible for you to be moved to your room would you like for that to happen? Or would you want to stay here? We can arrange either it’s not a problem.”</em>
</p><p><em>“I want to get out of here.” </em>Here. Peter had been here, in the medical room, for far too long. He only stayed in here for so long when something was truly wrong, and he was sick and tired of them being wrong.</p><p>
  <em>“Of course, we can set off now. Are you comfortable in your clothing or would you like to change?” </em>
</p><p>Looking down at what he was wearing Peter thought he was fine, even if he didn’t, he doubts he had the energy to change. He just wants to leave this room.</p><p><em>“I’m fine can we just go? Can Tasha come with us?” </em>At his question he saw Wanda smile at him, not looking high enough to see her eyes, enough to see her smile. <em>“She told me she would wait outside.”</em> He told her, fiddling with his blanket, <em>“Did she?”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Of course, she is, she’s been sat outside this entire time. She only left once before you woke up when Bucky came back so that she could go and clean herself up, other than that she’s been sat outside from the moment she brought you back.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh. Okay.” </em>
</p><p><em>“Come on then let’s go.” </em>Peter climbed out of the bed when she said that and he followed behind like a lost duckling, he felt weak.</p><p>“Nat, come on we’re getting him settled in his room.” Wanda called out while she walked through the door.</p><p>Natasha looked shocked at that but followed them to the elevator anyway. What she was shocked about Peter wasn’t sure, that he wanted her to come with or that he was actually allowed to leave medical. He hoped it was the latter, he hated having her leave while he had to be looked over by Cho, but he didn’t want her to have to see his injuries more than she already had. He was Spider-Man he was fine, he could do this alone, but the entire time she was outside he had longed for her to be sat next to him. But he wasn’t a child, he needed to deal with it alone.</p><p>When they were actually in the elevator Peter began to panic, Friday was taking them down to Peter’s floor. Wanda must have sensed his fear because she turned back around to look at him, concerned.</p><p>
  <em>“Peter, are you okay?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I don’t want to go down to my floor.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, I thought you wanted to go to your room?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I mean I do. I just, well I, would you ask Tasha if I could stay in the room, the room that I used to stay in that’s on her floor?”</em>
</p><p>Understanding flooded Wanda’s eyes before she turned back to face Natasha, “Hey Nat.” Natasha eyes moved from Peter to Wanda as she hummed in acknowledgment, “Pete wants to know if he can stay on your floor, like he used to?”</p><p>For the first time since he had woken up Peter saw part of the tension release from Natasha’s shoulders as she breathed, turning to him. “Of course, you can Peter. Always.” Without even having to ask, Friday changed the destination of the elevator, going from Peter’s floor to Natasha’s.</p><p>Peter was home, he knew it, yet he still couldn’t feel it. Couldn’t feel safe.</p><p>Finally building up the courage, Peter reached out, tentatively grabbing Natasha’s hand, feeling a sense of safety flood into him as she gripped his hand back. Accepting his touch, welcoming it. Maybe this could become home once more.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Natasha wasn’t sure what to do with herself, she was happy that Peter wanted her to come with him and Wanda to take him to his room, but he also knew she was sat out waiting for him. There was no way Peter would have just left her sitting out there, also as much as she knew she would have to she didn’t want to just drop him off into his room and then leave him there. Peter hadn’t wanted her with him in medical, why would he want her on his floor?</p><p>Or so she thought she would have to leave him, watching Wanda turn to Peter, knowing they were speaking to one another, she hated that she felt left out. She was a grown woman, feeling left out wasn’t something she should be feeling, she should be dealing with. Until Wanda tells her Peter wants to stay on her floor, that was the room he wanted to stay in and for the first time since Peter had turned away Natasha allowed herself to hope once again, maybe he wanted to be close to her, maybe this could go back to some version of what it was before and of course she said yes.</p><p>The moment Peter actually reaches out to hold her hand is the moment Natasha allows herself to breathe clearly, gripping his hand back. He still wouldn’t look at her, but this was something, this was a start, he was literally physically reaching out to her.</p><p>A few moments of silence later the elevator reached her floor and Natasha for a moment felt the fear seep back in, she didn’t want to make Peter uncomfortable, but she also really didn’t want to let go. She finally has her child back and she didn’t want to let go, even if letting go meant dropping his hand, fearing she’d lose the connection and he would disappear once again. But he didn’t release her hand, only grabbing it tighter, did he feel the same way she did. Did he think she would disappear?</p><p>Wanda didn’t step out with them, instead turning to Peter, “Do you want me to come with? It’s no problem if you want me to or not, I don’t want to crowd you though.” There was a second of silence before Peter shook his head, most likely saying no to Wanda but then realising Natasha couldn’t hear him, to which Wanda smiled and waved at him before the elevator closed in front of them.</p><p>Peter’s grip on Natasha’s hand tightened just a little bit more, nothing close to uncomfortable seeing as his initial grip had been tentative, and he turned to look at her, well turned to her while still looking at the floor, that was okay she can work with this.</p><p>“Well then lets get you into bed, you okay with that.” Peter’s nod was quicker this time, no hesitance this time and so Natasha instantly began to walk to the room Peter used to stay in before all of this went wrong, she didn’t want to falter and cause Peter to freak out over his actions and wonder if he’d done something wrong. So she tried to not give him time to.</p><p>His room on her floor hadn’t changed since the last time he had been in there, Natasha was the only one who had gone in there and she refused to move or change anything, but that room was the only place where she had felt close to Peter for over a month while he was gone. Hopefully, seeing the room the way he had left it would make Peter feel safer.</p><p>Walking into the room she felt Peter falter, at first, she doubted herself, was leaving his room this way the wrong idea? But after a moment she saw how his shoulders fell and some of the tension fall from his body as he breathed out, and for the first time since he had woken up his eyes actually roamed the room. He looked at everything in his room as if he was seeing it again for the first time, perhaps in a way he was.</p><p>Natasha had to let go of his hand as Peter crawled into his bed, although she knew she didn’t have to she couldn’t help but tuck him in and make sure he was comfortable. Yes he was fifteen, she knew he could make himself comfortable enough to fall asleep but she couldn’t help it. Natasha needed to do it, she may have been stalling so that she didn’t have to leave him alone but eventually she had to.</p><p>Standing up Natasha wasn’t quite sure how to leave, wasn’t sure how she could just walk out of the room, but Peter continued to stare at the wall. Maybe she could begin to cook or bake something to occupy her time, Helen said that he needs nutrients so Natasha could go and do something to help with that, that sounded like a plan, once again checking that Peter was comfortable, she walked to the door.</p><p>“Tasha?” Hearing Peter’s voice Natasha swirled back around, his voice was quiet, but he’d gone from laying down to now sat up, once again fiddling with his blanket was looking down. Peter was nervous, that was clear, but Natasha could wait, she would wait for him forever if that’s what he needed. “This is going to sound really dumb, and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but could you stay?” His voice was quiet, almost a whisper but the silence in the room made it clear.</p><p>Before he could even take it back, she immediately walked back to the bed, slow enough not to spook him but fast enough that he knew what she was doing, and Peter shuffled to the side, pulling the blanket down enough for her to be able to sit next to him. By the time she had settled down Peter had already turned around and went back to staring at the wall, but Natasha couldn’t sense the tension that had been in the room before, he seemed to finally feel safe with her sat next to him, so she wasn’t moving until he asked her to, not that she was going to anyway.</p><p>Natasha would sit here all night if he wanted her too, and for a few minutes that’s how they stayed. That was until she felt Peter shift, but when she turned to look at him, he was still, which made her think he was just shifting to make himself comfortable, until he moved again. Then again, until his head was touching her thigh, Natasha made sure not to move as she knew that right now Peter needed to choose what contact he wanted and when, to be perfectly honest she thought this was all he wanted, some slight contact to remember someone else was there.</p><p>Until he moved again, and Natasha used everything she had learned growing up to not react as Peter slowly laid his head on her stomach, curling his body to fit into hers as he gripped onto her shirt. Now she sensed fear in him, but now she knew what to do, he was worried he was overstepping, worried she didn’t want to offer him the comfort he needed, but she’d been waiting for over a month to comfort him.</p><p>Slowly Natasha lifted him up enough that she would be able to lay down next to him rather than sitting, the moment she lifted Peter slightly his body tensed up, so she knew she had to work quick. Quickly laying down next to him she manoeuvred him so that his head was placed under her chin and his body was tucked into hers, and at the moment Peter clung to her like a koala and began to cry into her shirt.</p><p>“I’m sorry Tasha.” He sobbed out to her while she tried to comfort him, wrapping her arms around him tighter he seemed so much younger in this moment. He was a child, he was fifteen but most of the time, with what he did he seemed older, the fact he went out and faced what he had to face made them forget how young he was. Natasha never forgot how young he is, but in this moment, it was clear, the way he buried his face into her shirt while he cried, his hands coming to wrap around her, trying to absorb as much comfort as he could, he seemed so much smaller than he ever had before.</p><p>“You need to listen to me Peter, and I will say this as many times as you need to hear it, you did nothing wrong.” Natasha whispered to him, continuing to hold him trying to calm him down, but also allowing him to feel what he needed to. “You didn’t do a thing wrong; you did what you thought you had to do to ensure no one got hurt. They threatened you and you didn’t react, which we do need to work on Peter, you deserve help okay, you don’t deserve danger, or hurt and what they did to you was wrong. It was the moment they threatened us that you moved into action, you wouldn’t allow anyone you loved to get hurt. You did nothing wrong and you’re home now, you did what you had to do to ensure we were safe now it’s our turn. Let us help you, let us keep you safe.”</p><p>Peter didn’t speak again after that, his sobbing taking over his ability to speak and so Natasha continued to hold him, holding him as tight as comfortably possible, trying to offer him as much comfort as she could as he fell asleep, her hand coming up to run through his hair, trying her best to ground him the way she knew how. Once Peter actually fell asleep, Natasha wasn’t sure how long she laid there before falling asleep with one thought in her mind; her son was finally back where he belonged. Now all they needed was James to come back home.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The hugs are finally happening! Will Peter allow them to help him though the way Natasha wants him to? Or will he just revert back into himself and push everyone away? (I mean I know the answer seeing as I've written them but anyway) I apologise about the lack of other characters in this fic, I'm not great at writing a bunch of people and I'm not going to lie there aren't major points with the others in any other chapters I've written. I wanted to make the connection Peter had to these three, but mainly Natasha and Bucky, clear and I think I went too far. Again if you have any ideas for one shots please do let me know as I'm struggling to think of any. Thank you so much for reading! Any advice? Oh I also forgot to say I have a Tumblr, one that I do hardly use really, but if you want to tell me something but don't feel comfortable saying it in this comment section then do feel free to just either send me a message or an ask and I will get back to you as soon as I can. It's the same name, watch-as-the-rain-fell xx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I won't lie, here on out the majority of these remaining chapters is just cheesy fluff, like probably horrifically so, but I've been waiting to write all the happy and comfort moments since I started the first chapter so sorry but not sorry. There will be some sadness coming later but it's there to let Peter heal so technically it's good, I think? Enjoy! X</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Peter woke up first, by like a second, the moment he woke up his body tensed as he forgot where he was, his tensing awaking Natasha. The moment he realised what had happened though he sank back into Natasha’s arms, this was the first time he had felt safe since leaving, he didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want to have to face what was coming. He heard Natasha chuckle when he sank back down, but her arms tightened around him again.</p><p>“Are you doing okay?” She asked him, running her hand through his hair once again, something she had found out early on was the quickest way to calm him down, something he himself hadn’t known. No one had ever done it before her, May had never offered him any comfort when they were alone, only ever hugging him when they were around others.</p><p>“I don’t know. No? I left the blanket I took with me on the roof.” He mumbled back at her, still refusing to remove herself from her arms.</p><p>“Don’t worry about the blanket we can have James get it on the way back, if it’s not there Tony can buy the exact same one don’t worry about that. Do you want to talk about any of it? A lot has happened in a really short time.” She asked him softly, continuing to run her hand through his hair.</p><p>Did he want to speak about it? Part of him did and part of him didn’t, there was so much to say that he didn’t know how to explain. Was he supposed to be describing what they did to him, what they said? Was he supposed to talk about his month on the street? Did she want to know about the time before he left?</p><p>“I, I’m not sure. Where would I even start?” He asked her, what did Natasha want to know?</p><p>“That’s understandable, why don’t you try telling me what happened before you left? What happened there? Why didn’t you tell us about May and how did you hide all of that from us?” Natasha asked him softly, okay he could talk about that, that was the easiest part. Well not really the easiest part, the way May had treated him was wrong Peter knew that, but he had still cared for her and it still hurt.</p><p>“I didn’t tell you about May because it’s all I knew, you know she never wanted a child, never wanted to have to look after me but Ben convinced her that it was what they needed to do since I had no where else to go. That it was the safest option. I don’t think she ever loved me, but I thought she did, my family was never a family that comforted each other, there was no hugs no nothing. Unless we were in public, then it was all praises and comfort and physical affection because that’s what the public knew the Parkers to be but that’s not who they were and I was that weird Parker, the bubbly child that loved affection and so they tried to squash it out of me. Ben was the only one there who offered some amount of comfort, the only one who I think truly loved me and May put up with it because she loved him but when he was gone she had no reason to pretend that she even cared about me when we were alone, Ben was always trying to build a bond between us. May would always make comments towards me, but it wasn’t until around four months before I left that she started to get really cruel. She hated me before all of this, but when she realised that I thought of here as home she loathed me, she would begin to throw things at me, not to hit me but enough to scare me.” Peter doesn’t know when he began to cry but he felt Natasha hug him tighter before placing a kiss on his head. “May was supposed to take care of me, supposed to love me, but she didn’t. She wanted me out and so I left.”</p><p>“But why didn’t you tell us that, we would have sorted it out.” Natasha tells him.</p><p>“May made comments about you guys all of the time, kept telling me that eventually all of you would see the truth, that you’d see that she was right, and I knew believing it was dumb but I couldn’t help it, I feared if I stayed here it would come true. Can we do something else now? I don’t want to talk about any of it anymore, please.” Peter was tired of thinking about all of it, he knew eventually he would have to talk about it, and he would, but he felt too drained to do that now.</p><p>Thankfully Natasha picked up on it, “Should we go bake?” For the first time in so long Peter allowed himself to smile, now baking, that was something he did have the energy for.</p><p>“Can we bake cookies?” He asked her, finally looking into her eyes, to which Natasha began to softly laugh and nodded to him, her and Bucky knew of his weakness for cookies, he loved a good cookie. Natasha got up from the bed first before holding out a hand for him to pull himself up, once he was up Peter all but ran to the kitchen, he had missed baking with them. He could hear Natasha continue to laugh from behind him, he’s missed her, and he knew eventually they’d have to talk about what he wrote, that they’d have to talk about him seeing her and Bucky as his parents, but for now he’s going to let himself enjoy this. And when that conversation came up, hopefully they wouldn’t ask him to leave, they wouldn’t want him to be their son he knew this but for now he could pretend.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Watching their cookies bake in the oven Peter realised he hadn’t seen Wolfie since he had woken up. “Tasha, where’s Wolfie?” He asked her, moving to look at her. At his voice she turned from the sink where she’d been washing the utensils they’d used, he was used to seeing her like this now after spending so much time with her, but the first time he’d saw her, well not just her but the whole team, doing domestic actions such as washing plates he had been shocked. He still isn’t sure why.</p><p>“You probably don’t remember this since you were pretty out of it, but when I found you, I killed Strucker on the spot.” At that he nodded to her, he doesn’t remember that, not really, he remembers her picking him up but that’s it. “However, Osborn got away, so James and Steve have gone out to dispose of him, Tony was able to track him down, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore. James will make sure of that for you.” She came over to him after drying her hands and cupped his chin to make him look up at her. “I know you don’t like violence; I know you want everyone to get a fair trial, which is good I don’t want you to ever change about that, but people like Norman they know too many people, he would be out quicker than we could protest it. I’m sorry about that.” </p><p>Peter didn’t like violence and death, Natasha was right about that, but after everything that Norman had done to him, watched as he’d been tortured, inflicted some of that torture upon Peter himself, Peter knew Natasha was right, Osborn had to go. But that didn’t mean Peter wanted him to be in more pain than necessary.</p><p>“He’ll get rid of him quick right?” He asked her, to which she just nodded at him, “Good.” He stated before jumping down from the counter and walking into Natasha’s arms, to which she breathed out and hugged him back.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Bucky was exhausted, he couldn’t wait for the elevator to reach Natasha’s floor so he could just relax with his family. Tracking down Osborn was difficult, not half as difficult as finding Peter but still not easy, all Bucky had wanted to do when getting Peter back was stay with him and Natalia, but he had to make sure Norman was gone. Had to make sure Peter was safe from him.</p><p>When the elevator opened, he saw Peter sat on the counter in front of Natasha eating cookies that they must have baked together, but the moment Peter hears the elevator open his body tenses up as he puts his cookie down and turns to look at Bucky. At that reaction, Bucky’s eyes drift over to Natasha quickly nods her head, so Peter knew what he was off doing.</p><p>“You doing okay bud?” He softly asks Peter; he can imagine not. Right now, Peter seems fine, but this is usually how Peter deals with things, it hits him instantly, then he goes numb to it before he breaks.</p><p>“Is it done?” Is all that Peter asks him, his tone flat and detached in a way neither Natasha nor Bucky had ever heard it to be.</p><p>“Yeah bud, it’s done.”</p><p>“Was it quick?” Peter’s eyes showed Bucky nothing, he didn’t know if his answer would be what Peter wanted to hear but the truth was that it was, and so Bucky simply nodded to him. Peter seemed to let out a sigh of relief and looked back down “Good.”</p><p>“You okay?” Bucky asked him again, hoping that for once Peter would let them in without having to suffer alone any longer first, but he isn’t surprised by Peter’s answer.</p><p>“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine, I’m feeling a little tired though so I’m going to go back to bed. Night.” Peter doesn’t really give them time to react, swiftly getting down from the counter and walking to his room before he’s even finished speaking.</p><p>Once he’s out of the room Natalia walks over to him and he wraps his arms around her, he wasn’t here when Peter had woken up, but he knows everything. Knows he wouldn’t speak to her for a full day, wouldn’t look at her for longer, hearing Peter act like that broke his heart, he can’t imagine the pain Natasha must have felt witnessing it first-hand.</p><p>“We’ll figure it out Natalia, it’ll be okay.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Wanda couldn’t help the guilt she was feeling, but she couldn’t help thinking this was her fault. Strucker was supposed to be dead and Wanda had just carried on with her life, not even questioning it and now he had hurt Peter. He had physically and mentally harmed one of her brothers, once again but she could have stopped this one. She should have known Strucker wasn’t dead, she should have felt it, she should have at least questioned his death, but she was too relieved when she had heard the news to have thought to do so and Peter had to pay for it.</p><p>That was all she could think of as she sat in her room, she had failed Peter, more than once. She didn’t notice his growing pain and she let the man who had experimented on her, torture Peter. Wanda wanted to see him, she had left him with Natasha because she needed to go be with herself to think, and she didn’t think she deserved to be around him after everything. But she had missed him so much and now he was so close, and she was avoiding him, so Wanda knew what she had to do, she had to apologise.</p><p>“Friday, would Peter be okay with me coming to see him for a little while?” Wanda waited for a couple of minutes, knowing that Friday was asking Peter before she could respond.</p><p>“He says you can Miss Maximoff.”</p><p>“Okay, thank you.” Alright then, Wanda grabbed the blanket she had bought the other week, she had seen the red blanket when she had gone out shopping and instantly noticed how soft it was. The other thing she realised instantly was that Peter would love it, they hadn’t found him yet when she had bought it, but she knew she needed to buy it, for when he was finally home. He was home now, and she could give it to him.</p><p>Thankfully, Natasha and Bucky weren’t around when she walked to Peter’s room, they were on the floor of course but Friday had told her he was hiding in his room, she saw the sorrow on Natasha’s face when Wanda was allowed into the medical room and she wasn’t, and she didn’t want to see that again. She understood why they felt that way, he was their kid, but he was her brother and so she was going to make sure he knew that, she had failed in doing it before. Now she had a chance to fix that.</p><p>Peter opened his door before Wanda even lifted her hand to knock, he looked exhausted and she couldn’t help the concern that began to bleed out, she knew Peter hated when they got concerned, he always said he didn’t need it. None of them ever knew if he always said that because he didn’t want them to be concerned, didn’t want to deal with it or if he truly believed that he didn’t need their concern. It hurt her to think that though, especially now knowing everything, their concern was justified and even in some cases not enough.</p><p>He tried to smile at her, but she could tell he didn’t really have the energy.</p><p>“Can I hug you Pete?” The moment she’d seen in him medical all Wanda had wanted was to wrap him up in a hug, but she knew in that moment he wouldn’t want it. If he said no, she’d back off, of course she would, but part of her still couldn’t believe he was in front of her.</p><p>“Yeah, but can you come in and shut the door, I don’t really want to leave.” So, she did. The moment that Wanda had gotten in the room and closed the door she turned back to pull him into her arms, Peter let out a tired chuckle at her actions but melted into the hug all the same.</p><p>“I’m going to say it now before I get into what I actually came here to talk to you about,” Peter pulled back a little at that, not enough to remove himself from her arms, but enough for her to see the look of confusion he was sending her. “I know you’re feeling anxious over what you wrote in those letters, about Nat and Bucky, even me, even if I didn’t have my powers, I know you Parker. I can’t tell you what they think of it all because I’m not them and it’s not my place to say but I can answer for myself. And Peter, you are my little brother in all the ways that it counts, I need you to know that I’m honoured you see me as your sister because you’ve been my brother for nearly a year now. And I know, with all of my heart, that Pietro would love you.” That was the moment Peter broke, he pulled her back in as he cried into her shirt, she didn’t care about that though, she had her brother back now. “I love you Peter.”</p><p>“I love you too Wanda.” Peter managed to choke out through his cried, to which she just held him tighter for a moment, allowing herself to bask in this moment. But she came here to apologise, and she needed to, she needed him to hear what she had to say.</p><p>“As much as I would love to stand here all day, because I’ve missed you so much it’s unreal, I need to apologise to you so can we sit down on your bed, please?” Wanda didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared, she could see Peter was too, but she had no idea if he knew, if he already knew and was waiting to blow up at her, or if he didn’t and she was going to hand him the final piece of information that would make him completely distance himself from her.</p><p>Peter sat down first, his fear clear in his eyes, she hated that she’d done this to him. Hated that she’d let him down so much.</p><p>“I need to apologise to you Peter, for a lot of things actually, can you please wait for me to finish before you say anything so I can get it all out there?” Peter’s fear was slowly turning into confusion, Wanda could see it in his eyes, but still he nodded at her. “Okay, well the most blaring part is that I should have known about Strucker, should have known that he was still alive, because if I had then this wouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t have done those things to you. I’m sorry I didn’t make sure he was dead, because even before all of this happened it should have applied to me that I should make sure he was gone, but I didn’t and I’m sorry.” Her breathe hitched as she spoke, trying so hard not to cry and true to his word Peter let her speak, but he did slip his hand into hers, she knew he was trying to offer her some form of comfort. “The other things I want to apologise is not knowing about everything, with how you were feeling, the way May was treating you, you graduating from school and Osborn threatening you, I should have noticed all of it, we all should have noticed it and I am so sorry you had to go through all that on your own. I’m sorry that you didn’t feel like you could tell us any of it. I’m so sorry Pete, I should have noticed, I should have done something, I should –“</p><p>Wanda didn’t finish her spiral because Peter had barrelled himself back into her arms, clutching her tightly as it was now her turn to cry into his shirt, and just like her he didn’t mind it, he just clutched her tighter.</p><p>“I need you to listen to me now, alright Wand?” She tried to pull back to look at him, give him the same attention that he had given her, but he wouldn’t let her. “No, can you please just stay hugging me?” Wanda nodded at that, she could give him that, she would gladly hug him for as long as he wanted to. “Strucker is not your fault, even if you had known he was alive and had gotten rid of him, chances are this would have still happened. You not knowing that he was alive didn’t change anything, Hydra’s been hunting me before he even came back. Everything else you said, that’s on me, you can’t know something that I didn’t tell you. Please, try to let go of this guilt you’re holding onto because you’ve done nothing wrong.” Peter told her, finally pulling back enough that Wanda was able to look him in the eyes. “Now as much as I wouldn’t mind talking more about this I’m really tired, want to have a sleepover?” The smile Peter gave her at his question was enough to say yes on its own, that with the added fact she wanted to spend time with him.</p><p>Her brother was home, but Wanda knew him well enough to know he was hiding something, knew whatever it was that it hurt.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>How was it? I always feel like I'm better at writing all the sad emotions than the happy parts so if it's horrible I really do apologise but I'm trying my best so if you have any improvements please do let me know. Any ideas for one shots you think you would like to read in this weird (not really coherent) universe I've created? Comments do make me smile so if you have anything you want to say please feel free! Also, like I said in my last notes, my Tumblr is watch-as-the-rain-fell, the same s here if you feel more comfortable saying something there, I'm not really active on there but I will make sure to check x</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! Hope you're all having a good day, and if not then I hope something happens to make you smile! Here's the second to last chapter!! X</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They knew eventually it was going to hit Peter again, they just thought it would have taken less than two weeks. Two weeks of watching him struggle inside his head, with small almost completely one-sided conversations, two weeks of watching him try to deal with it alone. No matter what they did he just wouldn’t talk to them and Bucky didn’t know what to do. He knew it surprised their team, but Natalia was much better at dealing with emotions that he was, somehow he always managed to say something wrong, but even Natasha didn’t know what to do. They just watched.</p><p>Until Peter finally broke.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Bucky didn’t know how to help, so he just did what he usually did in these situations, he baked. Peter wouldn’t talk to them, wouldn’t even open the door to them so he hoped that maybe baking enough for the three of them would mean that they would all be able to enjoy it together, but he knew there was a large chance he’d have to leave the food by Peter’s door again. Natalia was in the kitchen with him, despite the fact she was as good a baker as Bucky was, she left him to it, they usually allowed the other one to make whatever they liked, it would end up great anyway, the only time they would bake together was if Peter was involved, he didn’t like to bake alone. Natalia was sat on the counter next to him reading. If he knew one thing about her though, is that despite how convincing she was, she wasn’t focusing on the book, no he knew her mind was on Peter. They just didn’t know what to do.</p><p>It was quite late now, but for some reason the two of them wouldn’t go to bed, Bucky just knew he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was like his body knew he needed to stay awake for what was about to come.</p><p>Bucky was placing his cake on the side to cool when Steve came running into the kitchen, Natasha putting her book down instantly at the look on Steve’s face, the terror in his stance abruptly clear.</p><p>“Buck, Nat you have to come quick.” Steve yelled over his shoulder as he set off once again, Natalia moved first, Bucky only a second after. “Me and Clint found Peter on the roof, he’s awake but he’s unresponsive, Clint is with him now trying to get him to respond but Peter is really out of it.” They didn’t take the elevator, all three of them bolting up the stairs, Natalia surprisingly keeping up with them quite well, only being behind by a couple of steps.</p><p>The sight on the roof wasn’t what Bucky had been able to picture in his head, it was worse. Clint was knelt beside Peter who was sat on the floor, just staring forward as if he was simply watching New York from the tower but the fact he didn’t turn to acknowledge them was a warning of how bad it was. Clint didn’t turn to them the moment they pushed through the door, instead slowing getting up after a moment before walking towards them.</p><p>“He’s still not responsive, I tried to put a jumper on him, but I can’t get him to lift his arms on his own and I didn’t think it would be best to touch him. I didn’t want to scare him, but I also didn’t want to aggravate his wounds since they haven’t fully healed yet. Do you want us to stay with you or do you want us to go?” Clint asked them, Bucky knew that Clint being a father himself made him protective over Peter, knew seeing a child in this situation made Clint wish to wrap his own children up and keep them from the world. But he couldn’t and Bucky knew from his own experience how much that hurt. Bucky and Natalia were here now, they couldn’t wrap Peter up and keep him away from the world, but they were here to try and make everything a little easier.</p><p>“We got it now you two can go, thank you though.” Natasha told them, grabbing one of the blankets kept up her for Peter before walking to the boy himself.</p><p>“Thanks guys.” Steve and Clint smiled at Bucky once more, looking back towards Peter before walking back downstairs.</p><p>Bucky turned to walk to Natalia and Peter, watching as she gently placed the blanket around his shoulders before sitting down next to him, Bucky coming around to sit on the opposite side, the two of them watching as Peter just continued to stare. Bucky had never seen him like this, but Natalia seems to have, or at least known of whatever is going on because she began to speak to him softly, not saying anything of importance, just reminding him he was safe, he was with them, he was home. Along with her words she slowly reached out to grab Peter’s hand, squeezing with slight pressure every few seconds before resting her other hand at the base of his neck, slowly adding pressure and coming down to rub his shoulder.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Bucky couldn’t help but ask, not knowing what was going on but wanting to learn, wanted to know what he could do if this happens again and he made sure to keep his voice low and soft the same way Natalia was. “What’s going on?”</p><p>“I’m trying to ground him, he seems to be dissociating and one of the easiest ways to bring him back is physical touch.” Oh, alright that makes sense to Bucky, he didn’t know a lot about it, but he understood needing someone to confirm you’re there by feeling them, and so Bucky just does what feels natural and grabs Peter’s other hand, squeezing gently. Natalia smiles at him for that.</p><p>Eventually Peter’s eyes seem to focus, something Natasha was quick to notice. “Can you feel us holding your hands Peter?” He just nodded, still looking forward but he didn’t seem so far away anymore. “Are you able to confirm that verbally for me Милая?” (Sweetie)</p><p>“Yeah.” Peter managed to croak out softly, he looked exhausted Bucky noticed.</p><p>“What’s going on Bud?” Bucky asked him, he didn’t know what else to do, hadn’t known what to do from the moment that Peter had asked him if he’d killed Osborn. He wanted to help Peter, wanted to make it all go away but both he and Natalia knew something had happened, something they didn’t know of, and how could they make something go away when they didn’t know what was there?</p><p>“Can we go back inside? It’s a little cold.” Was all Peter said, still looking forward. Bucky just nodded to him, both of them helping Peter stand, Natalia making sure that the blanket stayed wrapped around his shoulders before they walked back inside, Peter between them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Peter just sat there in front of them, the two of them choosing to sit on the floor in front of him while he was on the sofa with the blanket wrapped around him. In this moment he looked so much smaller Natasha noticed, she knew Peter hated when they reminded him of his age but right now, he wasn’t much more than that. Right now, he looked so young and so small that Natasha wanted to put her floor onto blackout and keep him away from the world, but she couldn’t. Even if she could it would be too late, Peter had already seen the worst of what the world could give him.</p><p>“Please talk to us bud, we can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on.” James spoke to him, Natasha just continued to sit there, watching Peter battle with himself in his own head. Neither of them could make him speak, this was up to Peter and Peter alone. But Natasha saw the moment he’d decided a second before he opened his mouth.</p><p>“I wasn’t a mistake.” What? Typically, Natasha hated to allow her emotions to display on her face but in this moment, she made sure to remain open, to let Peter see. Not that she really needed to with Peter being one of few to be able to read her almost perfectly even when she didn’t want him to. But seeing the tears build up in Peter’s eyes she knew she needed to make sure he could clearly see her. “My parents aren’t who I thought they were. They weren’t good people, I wasn’t born to be their son, they didn’t want a son, they didn’t want me.” Peter’s sobs began to wrack his body, at which Natasha and James instantly stood up to sit with him and Natasha pulled him to lay against her shoulder as he cried. Peter gripped onto her shirt with one hand while grasping James’ hand with the other while she ran her fingers through his hair and James rubbed his back, trying to bring him some peace.</p><p>“What are you talking about? They were scientists, right?” Natasha didn’t know what Peter was talking about, he’d hardly spoken of his parents, as he hadn’t known them for long but he’d never said anything like this before.</p><p>“Bruce and I were trying to find out why I didn’t die, the bite should have killed me and I didn’t know why it didn’t. Now I do. My parents worked for Hydra, they were the bad guys and I was supposed to be their little lab rat.” Peter voice began to rise before he broke from their grasp and began to pace around the room, Natasha couldn’t help but feel the pain spread in her heart at the sight of him. “I was supposed to be an experiment, they were supposed to experiment on me. I was supposed to be a weapon. They changed their minds a few months after I was born but I wasn’t born to be a person, I wasn’t supposed to be here, they just decided one day oh maybe using a child for experiments is wrong, we shouldn’t do that. They were supposed to love me! They were supposed to care for me, not alter my DNA before I was even born so I could be used as a weapon, I used to wonder why May hated me. Now I get it. They were monsters so what does that make me?”</p><p>Natasha knew she was crying, and she didn’t care, all she cared about was Peter who was breaking down in front of her. How had none of them known this of his parents?</p><p>“How could anyone ever want me? I’m nothing more than an insect.” Peter seethed. “They were all right, I’m a monster!”</p><p>“Stop it.” Natasha finally spoke up, crossing the room to grab Peter by the shoulders, the heartbreak in his eyes making her want to scream.</p><p>“Why doesn’t anyone want me Tasha?” Peter’s sobbing had subsided slightly, enough that they were no longer wrecking his body, but his tears continued to fall freely down his face and his eyes continued to scream pain and heartbreak and Natasha couldn’t watch it anymore, moving her hands up to cup his face to ensure he was looking at her.</p><p>“We do. James and I want you, okay? You’re our kid, we didn’t realise it until you weren’t here and for that I can’t apologise enough, but you’re wanted, you’re wanted here. You wrote that you were sorry you saw us as you’re parents, that you knew we wouldn’t want you but Peter you couldn’t be more wrong in that, we want to be your parents, we want you to be our son. Technically you already are. I mean if you’ve changed your mind then that’s fine no matter what you will always have a home with us. We will always want you.” Natasha pushed out through her tears, watching as Peter’s tears began to fall even quicker, looking from Natasha to James.</p><p>Once Peter had turned to look at James Natasha watched his reaction as he saw James smile and nod at him before simply saying “It’s true bud, you’ve always got a home with us.” To which Peter’s face crumbled and his sobs took over his body again, turning back around to her and throwing himself into her arms, clinging to her and crying into her neck. James moved over to pull the two of them into his arms then as Natasha wrapped her arms around Peter as well, rocking him in her arms slightly in an attempt to calm him down slightly and she felt how one of Peter’s arms moved to grasp James’ shirt when he wrapped the two of them in his arms.</p><p>It took a while for Peter to calm down, but Natasha didn’t care if he had wanted them to stand there forever, she would have. She learnt in the Red Room that love and family were a weakness but all she could think is that if this is a weakness then she welcomes being weak, but it isn’t, and Peter taught her that. Peter was the one who taught her to accept love, was the one who taught her that she can allow herself to let her guard down, and he was right while at the same time closing them all off from a world that he didn’t want them to see.</p><p>“Why would you want to be my parents? I’m nothing.”</p><p>“Because you’re Peter.” James told him, pulling out of the hug he’d wrapped the two of them in, placing his hand on Peter’s back. Thankfully Peter hadn’t let go of her yet, Natasha wasn’t ready for him to, he just moved his head from where he’d rested it against her neck to look at him. “You’re Peter and you’re Spider-Man and the two of them bring so much joy to so many people, you made me and Natalia realise we are so much more than what they made us. Now it’s our turn to do that for you, and not out of obligation or out of debt, but out of the fact that we love you, you’re stuck with us now kiddo. You’re my son and you’re perfect.”</p><p>Peter didn’t move for a while after that, didn’t respond either. He just continued to cling to her and stare at James, absorbing everything and neither of them cared, they would wait for him forever, whatever he needed. They just hoped that this hadn’t pushed him away, that they hadn’t said the wrong thing that was going to make him leave again.</p><p>“I – I’m really tired.” Peter whispered. “Could I maybe, I don’t know, could we watch a movie. You know like we used to?” Pulling away from her slightly, looking to both of them his uncertainty radiating from his body.</p><p>“Of course we can, I’m glad you asked. James, you’re on snack duty.” Natasha watched as James did as he was told, chuckling as he went. Natasha went to walk towards the couch while holding Peter’s hand, but he didn’t budge.</p><p>“Everything okay?”</p><p>“I – I took the blanket with me and then I left it. I ruined it.” Peter’s eyes dropped to the floor as he spoke, his nerves finally taking over him.</p><p>“Hey, please look at me.” Peter’s head slowly lifted up, his eyes only reaching hers a moment later, they’d work on his confidence. “You don’t have to worry about that, James picked it up when he came back from – well his mission, he was told where you were hiding, and he found it there. It’s clean and it’s perfectly fine so why don’t we go wrap ourselves up like we usually do. We can give James the small corner.” That got a chuckle out of him, finally Natasha had missed that sound. He was the one who was now pulling her to the couch and she let him, let him drag her to sit next to him so he could curl into her and in this moment everything was perfect. Right now everything that had happened didn’t matter for tonight, they could pretend nothing had happened, that it was just a normal night.</p><p>James came walking into the room a little while later, his arms full of snacks and drinks which caused Peter to jump up and help him, like the selfless boy he was. Or maybe he was just going for the popcorn that he wanted as he chuckled laying back down in his spot and James just rolled his eyes fondly and Natasha couldn’t help the smile which adorned her face, but even if she could stop it, she didn’t want to. They’d made their own small family of misfits and their son was finally back with them. And that thought caused her to ruffle Peter’s curls and place a kiss on his head, which gifted her with a smile she’d missed so much.</p><p>“What he watching bud, Star Wars?” James asked Peter, sitting down on the opposite side to him and Peter quickly made work of tucking him into the blanket, the way he had for Natasha and himself, chuckling to himself as he laid back down again.</p><p>“Obviously Wolfie.”</p><p>They weren’t okay yet, Natasha knew that knew there was a lot of work left to do. Too much had happened recently for everything to suddenly be fixed. But this moment right here made it clear to her that one day it will be.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next couple of days were a lot more peaceful, Peter was finally starting to believe them but part of him was still terrified. They could change their minds any day now and kick him out, he wouldn’t be surprised, he knew he was a lot of work, but he was trying.</p><p>“Hey Peter, could we talk to you?” When had they gotten to his door, how did he not hear them? But there in front of him was Natasha and Bucky, looking at him from the doorframe. What had he done wrong?</p><p>“I – Yeah of course. Is everything okay? Did I do something? Is something wrong? Is-“</p><p>“Breathe bud.” Bucky chuckled at him, sitting down on the chair next to bed Peter was sat on, Natasha sitting next to Peter on the bed. Close enough to offer him comfort if he needed it but far away enough that she wasn’t blocking his escape Peter noticed, he didn’t know how to feel about this yet. “You’ve done nothing wrong Pete, nothing at all, but we do need to talk about the time when you were gone.” That, honestly, wasn’t what Peter had expected.</p><p>“What about it?” Peter couldn’t help but pull his blanket up to cover his lap, the Spider-Man blanket Tony had bought him as a joke, he knew it was childish, but it made him feel safe.</p><p>“Why didn’t you talk to us about it?” It was Natasha who asked him that, reaching her hand out to gently comb through his hair. “Why didn’t you tell us about May? And Norman, or just any of it? Did you not feel like you could?” Her questions were gentle, clearly void of judgement, her face open allowing him to freely see her concern, Bucky the same.</p><p>“I – There’s a few reasons, I guess? I don’t know.” Peter couldn’t help but let his eyes fall down to his lap, watching, more than feeling, as his hands twisted together. “I couldn’t tell you, but not because of you, that’s not – wasn’t ever the reason why. They killed Ben, without care, without remorse, so the moment Norman threatened all of you I panicked, Ben knew the truth and they killed him for it. I couldn’t let them kill you too. May kept telling me, for over a year before I left that apartment, that I should have handed myself in to them, that because of my powers I had murdered my own Uncle, but the thing is I didn’t know they were looking for me until I got the first message. She just kept telling me I should hand myself over to my keepers, but she’d never tell me who they were, no matter how many times she asked, she was waiting to hand me over apparently. It wasn’t until Norman first messaged me that I knew and when that happened, he said if I spoke up then the game would be over, I didn’t even know we were playing a game. No one told me there was a game.” Peter couldn’t help the tears that slowly rolled down his face, turning to look at them both Bucky had tears in his eyes while Natasha’s just screamed the pain she was feeling, their concern for him washing over him in waves. “Another reason why I didn’t talk about May, or the sorrow I was feeling was because I didn’t know anything else, not really. I mean being here felt different and I know Ned and MJ love me but, being in that apartment with May had been my entire life, even with Ben there she’d make comments and Ben tried but he wasn’t always there. So, when I came here and you were all so kind, I didn’t know what to do, adults have a tendency of letting me down and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, thought if I opened up then it would.” Bucky came down to sit next to him on the bed when he finished, wrapping an arm around his shoulder while Natasha wrapped one around his waist.</p><p>“You’ve been dealt a shit life kid I’ll give you that.” Peter couldn’t help but laugh at that, it’s not like Bucky was wrong, Natasha joined in soon after. “Nothing that happened to you was right, it should never have happened, but it did. It happened and we can’t change it, but we can certainly help you, if you’ll let us. What do you say bud? You going to let us help? Let us into that intelligent brain of yours.”</p><p>“Sure you can manage it old man?” Now that, that really made Natasha chuckle, Peter felt as her body began to shake as she hid her head in his shoulder, trying to avoid Bucky’s gaze as he stared at Peter. Yeah, that was a good one, Peter thought, staring back at Bucky with a smirk on his face, Natasha still chuckling at his side.</p><p>“Oh Милый, I’ve missed you so much.” Natasha finally managed to get out, her laughter subsiding, smiling at him softly, a smile Peter knew she only reserved for him.</p><p>“Yeah? I’ve missed you guys too.” Peter tugged the two adults down to him with that, shifting to get comfortable, cuddled up with the two people who made him feel a kind of safe he’d never had. A sense of protection he’d always craved. “You know when I dropped the letters off for both of you, and Friday said you were in the gym I nearly came down there. I nearly allowed myself to give in and just go to the two of you.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Natasha asked, tightening her grip on him, Peter appreciated that. “Why didn’t you?”</p><p>“I didn’t know what to say.”</p><p>Bucky kissed his forehead with that, while Natasha, somehow, pulled him closer. No matter what had happened Peter knew in that moment, that he was finally home.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, how was it? Peter was clearly going to be affected by what happened to him and I hope I showed that well, also I know technically his wounds would usually heal pretty quick but he's still not completely healed from the malnourishment that developed while he was gone and so I thought that his wounds wouldn't heal at his typical speed while he wasn't healthy. The grounding technique that Natasha is using is not something that I know if it's used in medical training, it's what helps me when I'm dissociating but it's always important to make sure you listen to professionals or to the person themselves. Different things help different people and I am no professional. X</p><p>I have been writing a what if Peter had gone to the gym one shot, it's not finished but would anyone want to read that if I were to finish it?? And do you have anything you want to see? Either something I haven't even touched upon or anything in this story itself that you'd like to see happen in a different way?? Thank you for taking to time to read, any advice on how I can get better?? Xx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're finally at the last chapter of this main story!! You know what, I wrote the first chapter of this in January and thought 'no I'm not going to post this' and then I couldn't get the idea out of my head so I continued it. I wrote a couple of chapters before I ended up being able to convince myself to post it and here we are!! I hope you enjoy! X</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wolfie?” Bucky tried not to jump at Peter’s voice, but he and Natasha were the only ones who could sneak up on him, and the two of them often forgot it. Well, more Peter forgot about it, Natalia loved to use it to her advantage. “Sorry, I thought you could hear me.”</p><p>“It’s okay bud I just lost my focus. What do you need?”</p><p>“Could we make a meal for Tasha? I mean I’d make it on my own, but I think she’d kill me if she saw me in the kitchen on my own with a knife.” Bucky couldn’t help but laugh at how true that was, Natasha was protective of Peter already, but after he’d gotten back she’d been even worse. Or maybe not worse, seeing as it was proving to Peter that they cared about him, and it’s not like Bucky could talk, he knows he’s gotten a little overprotective himself.</p><p>“Sure kid, any specific reason why you want to make her a meal? Or do you just want to improve your cooking skills?”</p><p>“I just wanted to do something for her, I don’t really know? But I know she’s out today, and I know she really didn’t want to leave, despite the fact she tried to hide it and so I thought it would be nice if she came home to a meal we cooked. Is that a dumb idea? I just remember Ned talking about how his Dad used to cook for his Mom when she was going to be late home from work, not that I’m trying to compare us to Ned’s family I know that –“</p><p>“Peter, breathe buddy. I think that’s a wonderful idea and Nat will love it. Any idea on what you want to make?”</p><p>“I think she mentioned something about wanting Solyanka soup, said she hasn’t had it in years. Could we try and make that? Oh! And can we also try and make what she called Medovik? She made it months ago and it’s the best dessert I have ever had in my life!” Bucky wondered if Peter knew that the Russian links would mean so much to Natasha, or if he was just simply unaware and knew Natasha liked these foods. Knowing Peter, it was most likely the latter, he never realised how much his actions meant to people, never knew how much of an impact he had, he just liked to make people smile.</p><p>“That sounds perfect Pete, do you want to start making it now?”</p><p>“Can we?”</p><p>Peter had been practically jumping to start since he asked Bucky the question, Bucky saw that, but Natasha had put forward the idea that they should make sure he was doing what he wanted and when. Not enough that he was doing whatever he wanted and not listening to them, not that Peter ever would, but to ensure Peter knew they meant what they told him, that they wanted to be his family, and by making sure he was comfortable was one of the ways to do this. As well as the fact that Peter had permanently moved onto Natalia’s floor, so had Bucky himself, but the two of them still had their own just in case, but they wanted to ensure that Peter settled into his new routine comfortably, and after everything that had happened the entire team knew that Peter wouldn’t say something if he thought it was a burden.</p><p>“Of course we can, come on lets get started.” Bucky wasn’t exactly sure how to actually make these dishes, but he was certainly going to do his best.</p><p>Bucky understood where Peter was coming from and his idea of cooking a meal for when Natalia came back was certainly a good one, knew it would make her happy, which is what Peter wanted. All Peter wanted was for those around him to be happy.</p><p>“I think we should make the dessert first, she should be home by six but if we cook the soup last then even if she’s a little late we can keep it hot enough for when she comes back. That alright bud?”</p><p>“Yeah Wolfie you’re the chief out of the two of us.” Peter followed each of his directions perfectly, Bucky knew Peter had a love for cooking, also knew that May couldn’t cook and now he knew even if she was able to cook she would have never cared enough to have shown him, now Bucky thought about that could May cook? Was that another lie Peter had used to explain his eating habits?</p><p>“Pete?” He only received an acknowledging sound for that, turning to see as Peter was in deep concentration while weighing his ingredients, but aware enough to listen to Bucky. “Remember when we used to ask why you weren’t eating enough, and you’d tell us every time that May had burnt the food again, was that a lie?”</p><p>The wide-eyed expression he got in response to that was enough of an answer in its own. “Bud, I understand why you didn’t tell us what she was doing but you could have asked for help with that without giving it away.”</p><p>“You really think that? You do realise I only just got away with the whole burning the food lie with Tasha, there was no way I could have tried bringing up me needing more food from you guys without her going to find out why. And anyway, I was already using a bunch of Tony’s money, I didn’t want to be more of a problem.”</p><p>“You were never a problem kiddo, and you never will be.” He moved over to ruffle Peter’s curls, pulling him in by his shoulders for a short hug before getting on with things, sensing Peter’s discomfort. “Now then, you measured everything out?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Natasha was frustrated by the time she was arriving at her floor; the meeting had gone on for much longer than was necessary. What angered her even more was that she wasn’t even needed, if Steve and Tony could stop being children for just five minutes that is. They’d wasted so much of her day on something that she honestly paid no attention to, too distracted with the idea of going back up to her floor, she was aware that the three of them couldn’t just stay up there forever but she wasn’t ready for it to end just yet.</p><p>The moment the elevator opened the anger just seeped out of her body as she was tackled into a hug by Peter. “I’m assuming you missed me?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at him.</p><p>“Of course I did! Come with me, me and Wolfie got you a surprise!”</p><p>“Stop being so selfless Pete, this was all him.” Was all James said the moment she walked into the kitchen, her favourite dinner and desert in front of her on the table, she couldn’t stop the shock from showing on her face.</p><p>“Why did you do all this?” Natasha directed that question at Peter, James isn’t a liar, and well she knows Peter. She’s seen him bring gifts and surprises that none of them knew of and passed it off as if they did for whoever they were for. Part of her didn’t understand it, still doesn’t, why doesn’t he want them to know it’s all him?</p><p>“You just looked a little sad earlier, and I knew you weren’t happy about having to leave so I thought of how to put a smile on your face, and I remembered you mentioning these, so I thought ‘hey why not?’ Also I remembered how Ned’s dad used to cook dinner for his mum when she had those awful shifts she would often get, Ned was so happy when she got a new job.” What good act had she done to end up with this boy, this boy who was so sweet, so caring, somehow so innocent despite everything and he had chosen her to lead him.</p><p>“I love it Peter, thank you. Now come on lets eat I know you’ve probably being dying to just eat the dessert haven’t you?” Smirking at him she knew he was right when a smirk grew on his own face.</p><p>“Maybe.”</p><p>The table was enveloped in laughter after that, the frustration she had felt early feeling nothing more than a distant memory. As long as she had her boys with her she knew all would be fine.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was a couple of days later that it was James’ turn to leave the floor, but unlike Natasha he had to leave the actual tower overnight, he’d been given a mission alongside Steve. He wanted to say no, was going to say no, but then he was told what the mission entailed, they were trying to remove any trace of Peter from Hydra that they could, and they were also trying to find out how they’d gotten to him in the first place, and how they hadn’t noticed it. Natasha knew that that piece of information was most likely only going to come from one person, Peter, but they didn’t want to have him go through it all if they could gather the information some other way.</p><p>Natasha knew Peter was trying to act as if he wasn’t bothered by this, as if James’ leaving for the night didn’t make him anxious, but the two adults could see it, saw the way he kept looking back at James every couple of minutes for the entire day before he had to leave. The moment it was time to go the smile etched onto Peter’s face would have convinced the rest of the team if they had seen it, would have believed him, but Natasha and James knew him better than that, could see the fear in him.</p><p>“I’ll be back soon, okay bud? You don’t have to worry.” James ruffled Peter’s hair before he pulled him into a hug.</p><p>“Promise me you’ll come back.”</p><p>“I promise you.”</p><p>“Now Natalia, make sure the boys don’t burn anything down while Stevie and I are gone please. We all know what they’re like and I would really like to come home to a building that’s not just rubble.” The idea of that made her laugh, walking forwards to kiss him on the cheek.</p><p>“We’ll do our best, won’t we Peter, but you know what they’re like. I bet Steve’s waiting for you so you should get off, we’ll be okay. Be safe!” James smiled at them as he waited for the elevator doors closed, waving to them just before.</p><p>The moment he disappeared from view she watched as Peter tensed, grabbing his hand to try and calm him a little.</p><p>“So, what do you want to do?”</p><p>“I don’t know? MJ once told me about the game nights she has with her family, she claims to hate it, but I know her better than that, could we play some kind of game? Wait do we even have any games?”</p><p>“I think Clint has Jenga, I mean I know that’s not the most interesting game ever, but we have it on hand if you don’t want to wait for a delivery.”</p><p>“I’ve never played Jenga, I always wanted to but Aunt May always used to say that it was too loud, that I was loud enough without tumbling bricks.”</p><p>“Then that settles it, I’ll go grab it.” How many things had that woman taken from Peter? Natasha had been beating herself up over it since she had found out the truth about May Parker, how had she not realised what was going on? She had met the woman, multiple times, but had never once thought something was off with her.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After playing the game for a good hour or so, Peter started to get restless, he’d clearly been enjoying the game, but Natasha knew that boy couldn’t sit still on one thing for the life of him.</p><p>“Do you want to do something else?”</p><p>“I – kind of but I don’t know what. Could we maybe just talk? Not that I really have anything interesting to say I just have no idea what else to do. We could watch a movie instead if you want. The movie doesn’t matter, you could choose it or I could choose it, or we could even watch one of Bucky’s favourite since he’s away and everything. Sorry I shouldn’t be telling you the choices you know them and this is your floor and everything and well - ”</p><p>“Well, there’s my rambling boy, I’ve missed this.” Natasha walked over to him to ruffle his hair as she went past to get them some snacks for a movie. “I’ll watch whatever you want to watch, and Petya, it’s our floor not mine. This can be your safe place, that is if you want it to be that is.” Coming back in from the kitchen Peter was just stood there in the middle of the room, looking back at her. “Petya?”</p><p>That seemed to shake him out of it, a look of confusion settling on his face. “Sorry, I just you used that name when you got me out didn’t you?”</p><p>“You remember? I didn’t think you would you were pretty out of it.” Natasha said, placing the snacks down on the table before walking to stand in front of him.</p><p>“I didn’t until now. I remember feeling pain but that nickname somehow made me know I was safe; I think it’s because no one else has ever called me that before. They called me every nickname I’ve ever been called but they didn’t know that one. When I heard it, I just knew here’s my ma- my Tasha.” Peter chuckled as he said it, trying to hide what he was going to say but Natasha knew. She smiled him but she decided against calling him out on it, if he wanted to call her his mother, she wouldn’t rush him.</p><p>“I’ll always be there, no matter what I’ll always find you when you need me. That’s what families do Petya.” The smile that got her was worth it as he pulled her down onto the sofa with her, draping the blanket over the two of them and resting his head on her shoulder as the movie played, Star Wars of course. Natasha loved it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were about half way through the movie when Peter started to get twitchy, something he had never done before while they watched movies, well unless he had something to say and so Natasha paused the movie, turning to him and gently lifting his chin so he’ll look her in the eyes.</p><p>“What’s going on in that head of yours Petya?”</p><p>“I was there for a week, I think. In that place. I kept thinking I was going to die. Kept thinking this was it. They kept singing that stupid Itsy Bitsy nursery rhyme while they cut me open, I think that was the most horrifying part, other than the pain they were putting me through, seeing that they were enjoying it. They were having fun.” Peter wasn’t looking at her, despite his eyes staring into hers, no he was looking through her, Natasha knew what that felt like, going back to that place mentally.</p><p>“Hey,” Natasha ran a hand through his hair trying to gently bring him back to her. “The people that were there, they’re all gone now. You’ll never see those people again, we made sure of that.”</p><p>“They kept telling me that none of you were ever going to come for me, that you were going to leave me there.”</p><p>“Did you believe them?”</p><p>“No. I mean eventually I began to doubt it as they kept going on and on about it and the longer that I was there it helped me start to wonder if their words were true, but no. I don’t know why but I just knew eventually you’d be there and then you were.” Peter moved away at this point, not too far, but enough to angle his body forward and staring at the paused movie on the screen. “You tend to do that don’t you?”</p><p>“Do what?” Normally Natasha found it quite easy to read people, she was trained for it so of course she was, but in this moment looking at Peter she had no idea what he was feeling.</p><p>“Show up.”</p><p>“Petya I don’t understand.”</p><p>“No one ever showed up before you. I mean Tony tried and MJ and Ned did what they could, but they can’t be there the way I need, I thought I’d just always have that feeling of being on the outside, that I’d always be that person that people liked but didn’t want. Then I met you. I mean when we actually bonded, from then on out you always showed up, without fail. Even when I thought you were on a mission and it would be impossible you were still always there, and I don’t get it.”</p><p>“Don’t get what?”</p><p>“Why? Why do you always show up? I’m nothing important, you missed or left more important things to babysit me, this isn’t what you signed up for, so why’d you do it?”</p><p>Peter finally turned back around to her at that, finally Natasha could see the confusion on his face and knew without a doubt he could see the same on hers.</p><p>“The full truth? The full story?”</p><p>“Please.” His confusion turned to desperation with that, with fear also shining through and Natasha just wanted to pull him back into a hug but also knew he didn’t want any kind of physical contact yet.</p><p>“The choice of being a mother was torn from me when I was young, from that moment out I thought that was it, with the removal of my ability to have a child I thought for certain that the maternal instincts were also torn from me. I mean of course I love Clint’s children, I’m their Aunt Nat of course I love them, but I thought that’s all I could ever be, an Aunt. Then you walked in with your bambi eyes and your innocence and well first of all I had a long conversation with Stark.” Hearing that Peter gave her a small chuckle, the entire tower knew about that conversation seeing as she wasn’t trying to be discreet about her anger at Tony’s actions. “Then I got closer with you and for some reason I dreaded the day someone would suggest you call me Aunt Nat, I mean I know Sam and Clint have been trying to get you to call them Uncle for a while now, and I didn’t understand why. Until one night on the roof, a few months after the night you and James met in the middle of the night, and you fell asleep against me and I realised what was going on, you became my son Peter and no matter what if you need me to or want me to show up I will, because that’s what a mother does.”</p><p>There was silence for a short while after that, shock seemingly taking over Peter if the surprised look on his face was anything to go from and for that moment Natasha thought maybe she’d gone too far. Said too much way too soon and freaked Peter out, they were trying to help him recover not make him uncomfortable, what had he wanted her to say? She was pulled out of her panic by Peter barrelling into her, pulling her into the tightest hug she thinks she has ever experienced, and all Natasha could do was hug him back as she felt his tears falling onto her shoulder as she tried to prevent her own from falling. She felt the moment Peter drifted off to sleep and choosing to do the same the two of them simply slept in the soundless room and for the first night since coming back Peter slept peacefully, safely wrapped in his mothers arms.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>That was how Bucky found them the next morning, surprised that the elevator hadn’t awoken the two of them, but he was also grateful that he was able to witness this moment. He doesn’t remember a time when he’d seen the two of them looking so peaceful. It didn’t take long for Natasha to open her eyes and look at him, smiling but Peter continued to sleep soundly wrapped up in her arms.</p><p>“Comfy?” He asked her softly, making sure not to disturb Peter.</p><p>“Very, he’s still really light.” Peter had always been lighter than he should have been from the moment they met him, part of the spider DNA in his, but he knew that they still needed to make sure he got more food into his system after having so little for over a month.</p><p>“We’ll get him back to his normal weight soon, probably even healthier now that he’s going to be staying with us, he won’t go hungry like he did with May. On that note I’ll make breakfast for us all, want anything in particular?” Natasha shook her head in response, going back to running her hand through Peter’s hair, not wanting to wake him just yet. Not that Bucky could blame her, he’s never seen him look so peaceful.</p><p>It wasn’t until Bucky had finished making breakfast that Natasha finally woke him up, whispering to him gently as he steered. Bucky couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Peter shot up after realising why he was being woken up, clearly happy about the prospect of food, starting to shovel it into his mouth.</p><p>“Woah bud, you can slow down it isn’t going anywhere. If you’re still hungry when you’re finished then I can make more, all you have to do is ask.” With that Bucky walked back into the kitchen, making coffee for both Natasha and himself. Natasha smiling at him as he passed hers to her.</p><p>“Did the two of you have fun without me last night?” The two of them looked at each other at his comment, Peter obviously being the first one to break and start laughing and Natasha just smiled at him fondly. “Oh, I see I leave the house and it’s party central is it? I’m wounded. I’ll just go sit in my room all by myself, shall I?” Bucky began to stand from the seat he had taken opposite them before Peter practically threw himself at Bucky.</p><p>“No! Wolfie, we don’t want you to go! Right Tasha?” Peter turned his attention back to Natalia while he clung onto Bucky’s arm.</p><p>“Oh of course we don’t. Who would cook us breakfast?” Natalia’s laughter was infectious, causing Peter to fall back into him chuckling and eventually Bucky couldn’t help but join them. Peter pulling him to sit next to him while he plops himself back down next to Natalia. “We played some games, watched part of a movie and had some conversations. We’ve decided we’re going to take over the world, I mean hey, spiders got to stick together, right Peter?”</p><p>“Right! Do you think we’d be good world leaders Wolfie?”</p><p>“I think you’d both be amazing, just don’t let Natalia over there get too close to any big red buttons got it?”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>The laughter which filled the room that morning reminded all three of them of a time before Peter left, reminded them of the past but at the same time opened them up to a much brighter, happier future for the three of them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Peter had gone down to see Wanda when Bucky finally questioned her.</p><p>“Were any of those conversations something I need to know? Is there anything I need to be concerned about? He’s okay right?” He couldn’t help but rattle off the questions, if something was up with Peter he wanted to know.</p><p>“Woah slow down there Papa-bear. He’s okay, I mean he’s not perfect yet there’s still things we need to do to ensure he fully heals, if he ever will, but he’s not in any kind of danger. We talked a little bit about his kidnapping, he thinks he was there for a week, which is longer than we thought so either he doesn’t remember it correctly or the video we got sent was a recording. For that time of captivity, they kept trying to tell him that no one cared for him, said he didn’t believe it or at least completely believe them anyway, so there’s a chance those doubts will crop up again. We also spoke about me showing up, about the fact I saw him as my son, I mean he didn’t say anything else after that, but he hugged me.”</p><p>“Do you think he’ll ever actually call us his parents? I mean I know he said he thought about us as his parents Nat but what if that’s changed, or what if after what he learned about Mary and Richard he’s decided not to trust people anymore?” Bucky knew this wasn’t the most important part of Peter’s recovery, knew that only Peter could decided if he still saw them as his parents, if he wanted to call them mother and father. But Bucky hopes that one day he will, he’s never been great with children but somehow Peter just wormed his way into his heart, that boy is something special and Bucky just hopes he can be part of his life in some way.</p><p>“I’m not sure.” Natasha spoke to him softly, her eyes looking into hers with much more content shining through than Bucky thinks he had ever seen. “That’s all up to him, if he ever wants to call us his parents then I know the two of us will love it, but even if he doesn’t, we’re the only two of the team he ever felt comfortable giving nicknames to, that means a lot too.”</p><p>“We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”</p><p>“Yeah, we’re going to be great.”</p><p>Bucky knew she was telling the truth; things may still be unsure for now and Peter may not be okay yet but he knew the two of them would fight tooth and nail to ensure Peter had a home to come back to. No matter what happened, no matter how Peter decided to feel about them, parents or something else they would stand by him and love him for always.</p><p>They would always be a family, no matter what happened.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The Russian food I included may be wrong, if they are please do let me know and if possible could you inform me of what's correct, or if you'd like me to just cut it out then please do let me know! X</p><p>I do have one shots in mind for this story, one of which is already largely written up, but while I have an idea for the others I don't actually know how to write them yet and I don't want to try and force myself to write them and them end up really bad, so I hope you'll be able to have some patience with me. I do have an idea for another story which hopefully will start to be uploaded at some point but that will probably be near the end of this month because I like to be a bit ahead in case something happens. Also one section of my exams are starting after next week so I won't be writing as much due to being knee deep in crying over my A Levels. Pity party over I apologise, thank you for taking the time to read my first story it means a lot to me that people have actually wanted to read my work. I hope you enjoyed and if you have any ideas that you'd like to see take place in this universe then please let me know. Any advice?? Xx</p>
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